Winds of change
by harry copperfield dresden
Summary: The son of a shinigami and a hollow, Cain zephyrs leads a normal life until he arrives home to find his parents dead and is forced to awaken his own powers. follow Cain Zephyrs as he joins the bleach universe near the beginning.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So…I know I haven't updated my Naruto fanfiction in a…well…a long time

Safara: Oh author where are you

Me: oh…shit I've got to run… enjoy my latest fanfiction.

Chapter 1

Cain Zephyrs was ticked off. He had been able to see ghosts for as long as he could remember sure. He even had learned to avoid the worst of them by drawing himself into his body by meditation. Hell, he had even developed a neat trick of compressing his, well he didn't know exactly what it was, into wires and that seemed to work out well enough. The spirits he knew about were easy enough to deal with once you knew what worked and what didn't. No. he was pissed off for a completely different reason. Some punks were trying to beat him up because, off all the things possible in the entire universe, his hair was white. Not just the kind of white that people's hair turns when they get old, no, this is blinding, neon white.

"Get lost." Cain told the punks, getting ready to pull knives from where he had hidden them in his clothes, he was an old hand at fighting, and he had dealt with these types before. He was just about to show them his knives when he saw a blur of orange and saw the would-be assailants fall to the ground.

"You ok?" the orange haired kid asked "those guys just don't know when to give up. First me then Chad here." He motioned to the large Hispanic looking kid who was walking up to him from behind. "They don't stop until they have either been beaten down or the person that they had been targeting has been 'educated'" he motioned to his own unusual hair color "guess they didn't like your hair color huh?" he extended his hand towards Cain, "The name is Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meet you!" he didn't smile so much as stop the permanent scowl on his face for a few seconds, but then again Cain wasn't too good at reading people's emotions.

"The name is Cain, Cain Zephyrs" he tilted his head to one side and looked at Ichigo for a minute, then said without any preamble, "You can see ghosts too can't you?" Ichigo face faulted so hard onto the ground it was amazing he didn't have any brain damage.

"How do you even know about that?" Ichigo asked completely astounded that someone else besides him and his siblings could see the spirits. Just then a girl with raven hair wearing the school uniform for karakura high school ran up behind Ichigo and kicked his back with a flying kick. "WHAT THE HELL RUKIA!"

"You go off and don't tell me where you are going and then I find you in some park beating up some punks and saving some guy with weird hair! Off course I'm going to punish you. You've got work to do." She struck Ichigo with a glove that had a flaming skull on it. As the glove passed through his head another Ichigo popped out dressed in black and had a giant sword. It could be best described as a two handed long sword.

"Care to explain?" Cain asked, genuinely curious, as the appearance of a second Ichigo wasn't really surprising to him so much as made him really curious.

**One long explination that I am far to lazy to go into right now and seriously, you should know that if you are reading this right now. **

"Interesting." Cain mused, "so the ghosts with holes are known as hollows, they are the souls of the departed that have failed to cross over in time and have turned into demon like beings that live by devouring other souls. You" he points at Rukia "are a shinigami, tasked with the protection of this world's souls or whatever and because of reasons that I don't really care to remember at the moment, no offense Ichigo,"

Ichigo punched Cain, sending him falling into the ground "None taken Cain"

Cain rose to his feet rubbing his cheek in pain "I deserved that I think. Anyways, so you're a substitute soul reaper or whatever and you slay these hollow things in order to send them to the soul society. So…what happens when I kill one?"

Rukia looked on in shock "You've killed one!? How!?"

Cain took a deep breath and concentrated, he pushed his hand together as if he was praying and then slowly brought them apart, at first it looked like there was nothing there, and then the sunlight reflected off of them, "I found out how to do this through meditation and necessity. I was being attacked by a hollow and something inside of me responded to the danger. All of a sudden I found myself able to manipulate my internal energy that made me visible to these things, I don't have much power in terms of brute force, but these are razor sharp." He dissipated the spirit wires and shrugged. "I guess normal people don't do that huh?"

There was a roar from nearby and suddenly a hollow appeared. "I guess I'll just give a demonstration." He walked towards the hollow, his hands already in the preparatory prayer pose. His spirit wires forming between his fingers, "I guess I've been watching too much anime recently, but I call this, Battle Waltz" the wires wrapped around the hollow as he crossed his hands, "Finale!" the spirit wires drew tight on the hollow and sliced it into pieces, thankfully, it had no blood to spray everywhere otherwise it would have been too messy to clean off of his clothes. "that is how I killed the hollows that came after me, I can actually reabsorb the energy used to make the wires, so I can keep this up indefinitely." He shrugged.

Ichigo and Rukia were not sure whether to be impressed by the efficiency of his dispatch of the hollow or to disturbed by the brutality of it. "well I guess you are hanging with us then" exclaimed Ichigo.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N : yeah yeah…I know I haven't updated my Naruto fic in a long time but I'm seriously drawing a blank on it and this helps so…I'm doing this instead. Sorry. **

** Cain: aren't I meant for a different story though? Your only original story that you keep putting off doing.**

Me: **No comment, and with that the chapter begins.**

** Chapter 2 **

Cain had been having a great day. He met some people that understood what he was going through, the whole seeing the spirits of the dead thing really had been preventing him from making any friends. Now that this problem was fixed he was actually feeling pretty good for the first time in years. He even got to kill one of those hollow things and not have his new friends freak the fuck out or try to get him committed to a psych ward. So all things considered, it was a great day. Well, at least it HAD been, until someone had triggered a massive clusterfuck of hollows to attack the city. Just then several hollows jumped him from above.

"SHIT!" Cain exclaimed diving to the left, a hollow's claw grazing his side leaving a shallow but long wound on his right arm. He pressed his hands together in a prayer like fashion, drawing on the energy inside of himself; he created his only defense against these hollow creatures. "Battle Waltz: Symphony!" he drew his hands apart, the almost invisible wires surrounding him almost immediately; he manipulated the wires with the tips of his fingers, sending and manipulating the wires into a defensive grid around himself.

"Come on" he smirked at them, he could tell from the energy that they were releasing that they were regular run of the mill hollows, in other words, they couldn't do shit to him once he was fully prepared, "I don't have all day and I'm pissed off right now, blame yourselves for catching me at a bad time, and so…" the hollows jumped him, jaws opened and claws extended going in for the kill, their terrifying roars doing nothing to deter Cain as he readied his wires, he waited until they were within the maximum reach of his wires. "**THE PENALTY IS DEATH!**" He exclaimed, his voice taking on a slightly demonic tone as his eyes gained a greenish tinge to them, his arms exploded into a flurry of movement dismembering the hollows in a fashion that was as efficient as it was brutal. He felt the resistance on his wires drop to nothing, watching as the corpses of the hollows vanished into nothingness. He sighed "and I was having such a nice day too." He felt a large surge of energy nearby and decided to investigate. He ran down the street, keeping his Battle Waltz ability active, taking care of all of the hollows that tried to attack him. His wound was already healing; in fact it was surprising to him that the hollow had done as little damage as it had, ever since he had activated his abilities it had become increasingly difficult to cut into his skin.

"It kinda feels like Ichigo's energy, but there is someone else there as well," he looked up into the sky and saw a giant hollow crawl out just as he arrived to see Ichigo and a guy dressed in white wearing glasses surrounded by hollows, he fought his way into the center by using Battle Waltz to annihilate the low level hollows in his path, not that there were all that many after Ichigo and the white clad guy's tag team battle, "what did I miss Ichigo?" he inquired of the substitute Shinigami.

"This guy, Uryu Ishida" he pointed to the guy in white, "decided that he wanted to challenge me to a hollow killing contest." Ichigo pointed at himself, "I'm pretty sure I'm winning though! He was also just about to explain just what in the blue hell that giant thing in the sky here is."

"It is known as a Menos Grande," began Uryu, "it is when a conglomeration of hundreds of hollows into a single body,"

Ichigo, being Ichigo naturally ignored caution in favor of a more, well he charged the hollow only to be kicked off of it.

Cain could sense that Ichigo *cough cough* had this handled, and could also sense that the man in the hat that was restraining Rukia was far more interesting and well, he might be more understanding. "Sup, sweet hat man." Cain said cordially "so how do you fit into all of this, I can kinda tell that you have the same power that Ichigo and probably know what I am then. Don't you?"

Kisuke smirked and brought his fan in front of his face the way he normally does when he knows something and doesn't want you to know exactly what. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't, and maybe you should come with me when this is all over and I might explain this to you." He smiled slyly in a way Cain found really annoying, but, being who he was, he could respect the man's position, he obviously knew far more than he was letting on. And was far more intelligent than he could ever hope to be, plus he was most likely a Shinigami himself. He noticed Uryu fire a giant arrow from his bow and for some reason he had Ichigo's sword tied to his head. Yeah, he wasn't even going to ask any questions about that one.

"Well it looks like now is as good a time as any, the name's Kisuke, follow me if you want to know more about yourself." Kisuke started to leave, followed by Cain. They wandered into the center of the town and into a store labeled Urahara Shoten. They descended into a basement that looked far too realistic to just be an underground storage area. Kisuke turned around and tapped his shoulder with his cane. "Welcome to my lair Cain Zephyrs, Ive waited a long time to talk to the only scion of a hollow and a Shinigami. It is an honor to finally meet such an anomaly face to face."

Well this is going to be the weirdest conversation I've had in a long time then.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: MERRY CHRISTMAS! I like to think that everyone likes this time of year so I try to put out a chapter or so around Christmas. **

** Cain: you are aware that not everybody believes in Christmas right?**

** Me: yep**

** Cain: *facepalm* idiot. **

**Chapter start.**

Cain was vexed. _Vexed _he thought to himself _that is exactly how I'm feeling right now. _The crazy shopkeeper Urahara had been…for lack of a better word **probing** him for the last THREE HOURS! Now, as he was tied to what could only be the absolute coldest table in existence, he could only wonder about one thing. "Why is there a cat sitting on my chest!?"

"Oh well you know" Urahara smiled as he waved his fan infuriatingly, as if he had nothing to do with the current predicament. "Cats do what they want you know, and Yoruichi-chan is no exception to the rule." he smirked. "Although it is interesting, Yoruichi doesn't normally take to new people so fast."

"Now, now Kisuke, don't be so fast to assume things." The cat, now named Yoruichi, declared, "This young man seems to be radiating a particularly dense reiatsu, have you tried expelling him from his body yet Kisuke?"

"Actually," Kisuke replied, "I'm getting some, unique, readings from this kid." He motioned to the monitors that Cain was hooked up to, "these readings indicate that his body is actually a gigai I made a while ago, I it was a request from a…regular customer." He scratched his chin "he died a while back though, it was weird though…he should have been able to deal with those low level hollows, not to mention that wife of his, talk about powerful."

"Don't talk shit about my parents you psycho!" Cain, exclaimed, tired of being ignored, "I don't know what you're talking about them being powerful or whatever but they were attacked by those hollow things, they couldn't even defend themselves."

"tut tut, Cain Zephyrs" Kisuke waved his fan again with that knowing grin of his, "they could see that hollow, of that there can be no doubt, what fascinates me is that they were killed despite their abilities, definitely some foul play, but" he released the ropes binding Cain to the table "but let's see what your soul form looks like" he pushed his cane through Cain's forehead pushing out his soul.

Immediately, the air in the room felt, thicker somehow, not heavier as in the case of a massive reiatsu, but the air was undeniably thicker. Cain himself was now dressed much like Ichigo would when he would achieve bankai, not that anyone knew that now of course. The main difference was that instead of the solid black coattail, it was divided into nine separate coattails that were pure white in color, the rest of his outfit was also white with black trim, the sleeves were also not conducive towards combat, being magelike in appearance, not to large though, just enough so that he could hide something inside them. So, a very slender mage look no poofy robes or anything. There was even a hood…imagine that. He took a look into a very convenient mirror and posed, "nice threads," he stated, coolly, "these mine?"

"Fascinating," Kisuke mused to himself, "it looks like the Shinigami and Hollow blood in you is perfectly balanced, unlike some…other…people I know. And unlike theirs your lineage is, well, it appears that at least your mother was Vasto lorde class hollow. Your father on the other hand was, while not a particularly powerful Shinigami, he was almost unequaled in kido casting speed, and while he couldn't use the higher levels of kido without incantation, he could use anything below level thirty to full strength without incantation. It was a quirk in his reiryoku that made it much denser than the average Shinigami thus a much more efficient for use in kido, it gave him a measure of control that most Shinigami could only wish they had, a quirk that seems to have amplified in your mixed blood." He pointed at a soda can that he had Jinta set up earlier, "**Hado # 1 Sho." **

A force pulsed from his finger in a manner not unlike a bullet, it was unfocused and only succeeded in pushing the soda can over but then again that was the point of the spell, to push. Cain looked on and quickly comprehended the nature of the spell, almost instinctually. After getting a nod from the eccentric shopkeeper he then pointed his own index finger at a different soda can and intoned "**Hado #1 Sho!" **guided by his own instinct mixed with his intelligence he was able to perform the spell, a little too well, instead of gently pushing the can off of the ledge it was on he dented the can, and sent it flying into the wall.

He looked at his finger disappointedly, "I used too much reiryoku on that didn't I?" he shrugged, "it is the same principle as my **Battle Waltz, **take the energy, in this case reiryoku, shape it and expel it from the body, although it used so little energy that I'm surprised it did anything at all." His explanation intrigued Kisuke, as he was used to dealing with either stoic people like Uryu or with hot blooded individuals such as Ichigo, it was a very nice change in pace for the scientist turned shopkeeper.

"Exactly!" he exclaimed "the same principles apply to every single kido, the only differences being the amount of reiryoku required to fuel the technique and the maintenance of the form after it leaves the body. If you are planning on further instruction though I insist that you also develop a sword style to compliment your fighting style and it so happens I have an asauchi (a nameless zanpakuto that all Shinigami are given and that develop alongside them) for you to use." He tossed the zanpakuto to Cain and almost immediately the sword changed from a featureless katana into a katana with the words for 'seal' and 'protect' as well as 'bind' running down both sides of the blade. The hilt was colored red and blue wrapping around each other. And the guard took the form of several fox tails giving the guard a circular look.

"Incredible, your zanpakuto almost immediately took on its own personality and spirit, this is incredibly rare, in fact I would say that your soul remembers having a zanpakuto instinctually and therefore would bond with it faster but this is INCREDIBLE" Urahara started moving closer to the katana, with that mad scientist glint in his eye "I'll have to run a few more tests."

Cain was not amused.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hi everyone reading this…I don't know why… but thanks to everyone who does. Thanks to Soraking1311 for reviewing this. And to everyone else who read the last chapter. Anyways, here's the latest chapter.**

Cain was exhausted. His formerly pristine clothing was in near tatters, his breath was ragged and the dust was stinging his eyes. "Tired already? You can last longer than that can't you?" The silhouette in front of him taunted, its infuriatingly feminine tone driving him up the proverbial wall.

"SHUT UP!" Cain retorted, furious at the woman in front of him, he then took a deep breath, 'Calm down and analyze the situation at hand, then decide the best course of action based on the information available to you at the time.' He grabbed a handful of the dirt from the ground, taking full advantage of his small respite.

He heard the telltale sound of her shunpo behind him. "WINGING IT WORKS TOO!" he shouted as he leapt up, pushing off harder with one of his hands so as to send himself into a spiral, as he landed, he threw the dirt he had picked up towards where he suspected the crazy person was.

He felt something pressing on his back as arms wrapped around him and forced him into a submissive pose. "You've got a good battle sense kiddo, but ya can't pull one over on me that easily." He felt himself lifted up and thrown over her shoulder, as he landed he felt her foot place itself on his neck, effectively immobilizing him. He kept his eyes closed as, this being who she was and all, she had absolutely nothing to speak of on.

"Yare, yare, Yoruichi-chan, you can't expect the kid to fight you seriously if ya aint got clothes on do ya? Kisuke tittered from the sidelines as he ate his popcorn.

"Please put some clothes on PLEASE!" Cain coursed, his face a very deep red, he was no dummy and was not going to open his eyes just yet…its not that he didn't WANT to see her naked, his just didn't want other people to KNOW that he wanted to see see her naked. Also he was just too plain shy to look. Never mind how much his instincts were screaming at him, he had a hard enough time trying to relate to people as it was, he was…subpar in that regard.

He felt the pressure on his neck lessen to nothing and stood up. He kept his eyes closed until he heard the rustling of clothes being put on in the direction of Yoruichi. He peeked…it wasn't much but at least she had her underclothes on…it was enough for him to be able to focus for the first time since he had seen her transform…he would never forget THAT particular image.

"Can I take a break please?" Cain gasped out…exhausted from the near endless training with Yoruichi and Kisuke…they were absolutely brutal taskmasters and he had to admit…his swordsmanship had improved markedly, his skill in hakuda, the Shinigami martial arts, was at best, passable… he'd never be a master but he would definitely be able to hold his own with the best of em with enough training. If he could only figure out this shunpo thing he'd be having a good day. He just couldn't get the hang of it, not matter how many times he'd seen it from Yoruichi he just couldn't get his reiryoku to shape itself in that particular manner. So far he just couldn't analyze the structure of the shunpo like he could the kido and other techniques...

"Hey Urahara!" Cain shouted, "I've got a question for you!"

"Ask away then, especially if it is to whether Yoruichi is single fufufu" Kisuke teased. Cain, ignored the obvious jab at him, although the thought had crossed his mind, fuelled as it was by both his intellect and his instinct.

"Would it be possible that there would be some Shinigami techniques that it would be impossible for me to use?" Kisuke looked surprised, as if he had not taken that possibility into account, or he was just trolling like he usually was.

"It could be possible that there is a technique that can be used by hybrids like you or some such and that it would be impossible to learn another because your body is refusing the new technique in favor of an inborn one from your hollow half… fascinating, if that is true then there's really only one thing to do then." Kisuke flashed over to Cain, his Benihime already drawn from her sheath and approaching Cain at record speed, "Force your instincts to unlock that move!"

Cain brought his blade up just in time to intercept the incoming Benihime, and since Kisuke's method of training was 'learn or die' he had long since been using her released form in their sparing sessions, the end result of this was Cain being thrown back from the resulting clash of swords.

"Behind you kiddo!" came a dreaded voice from behind him, he was heading straight for Yoruichi, her fist drawn back for a punch, and from the front he saw Kisuke rapidly approaching him. His life was literally hanging by the thinnest of threads; his intellect couldn't get him out of this one… 'What do I do? I'm drawing a blank here, I'm going to die if I don't figure out this high speed technique, think…think man!' '_Let go, trust me_'. The voice of his instincts insisted '_just move, if you can't run then don't, simply move out of the way'_. He let go of what his intellect told him was impossible, and then his reiryoku finally responded. Instead of just his feet being pushed from the reiryoku output, it was more like he surrounded himself in a skintight suit of it and used that to push himself in the direction that he wanted. He moved, just as the two death bringing blows were about to land.

The two blows landed, the impact from them causing an explosive wave that stirred u[ the dust around the impact point. "Yare yare, it seems that young Cain has been holding out on us Yoruichi chan!" He put Benihime back into her sheath, the hilt turning once more into a cane handle shape, "Let's see if he can do it again shall we Yoruichi-chan! Keep him at it until he drops!"

"You're both psychotic!" he was about ready to resume the torturous game of 'tag' with Yoruichi when he felt something enter the world, a massive reiryoku signature that was head and shoulders beyond anything he had ever sensed before, it was accompanied by a lesser signature, but a strong one nonetheless, he could also sense Rukia walking towards the two massive signatures. He didn't trust this, not one bit, and his distrust was only furthered by the apprehensive looks that Urahara and Yoruichi were giving each other. Obviously this was something either unexpected or something that they didn't think would happen till much, much later.

His instincts told him Rukia was in danger of something really catastrophic happening to her and, while he had very little contact with her personally, she seemed to be somebody that Ichigo valued immensely…and despite what anyone else thought, he felt that, given a chance, he and Ichigo could become, if not great friends, then at least good ones. Plus he hated the thought of anyone being hurt for reasons out of their control.

"Sorry Urahara, I've got to do something…I know I might not be able to do much of anything right now, but if I don't do something, I know I'll always regret not having tried, besides, my blood wants to see just how much more training I need…I can feel something is about to happen, like a calm before a storm, and none of it is gonna be good is it Urahara?" Cain inquired of the shopkeeper.

"Yare yare," Kisuke sighed to himself, "that intuition of yours is spot on Cain-kun. Go, im gonna make some preparations for you and Ichigo, because, let's face it, neither one of you is getting out of there unscathed, I'll follow shortly after." Cain was surprised to see the shopkeeper so serious, something that meant something really was going down. And without another word, moved away with his as-yet unnamed technique, he would have to think of one later.

**At the place where Ichigo is fighting Renji(you know the one)**

Cain fazed into existence, startling the two combatants, and quickly took stock of the situation. Ichigo was battered and bleeding profusely from a deep gash in his shoulder, the opponent was of about the same build as Ichigo, the major difference being the other's red spiky hair and tattoos. His zanpakuto was in shikai, the segments possessing what looked like fangs that grew in size from the bottom till at the top was an intimidating fang. Uryu was on the ground to the side, bleeding from an injury of his own. There was Rukia, was standing next to the injured Uryu, and behind Renji, at some distance, was the source of the massive energy signature. He knew he would stand no chance if that guy got involved in the fight, the best he would be able to do would be to run.

"So, Ichigo, want some help, or have you got this handled?" Cain asked, trying to buy time for the eccentric shopkeeper to get there. "And who would you be? It seems like you are trying to take a friend of mine somewhere she doesn't want to be." He drew his own Zanpakuto, "I don't take kindly to that kind of thing." He motioned to the man in the white Haori, "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you're in charge here." He motioned to the man with the released zanpakuto "that means that you have been hurting my friends, how about you fight me instead," he stepped in front of Ichigo, "try and get her out of here, if you can, I'll take on this clown." He pointed his index finger at Renji "what's your name?"

The man smirked, feeling cocky after his win against Ichigo, "Its Renji, Renji Abarai!" he swung his sword at Cain, the segments disconnecting as he did so, the blade flying towards Cain at breakneck speed. Cain lifted his own zanpakuto to block it, only as blocked one, another section bit into his right shoulder, much like how Ichigo had fallen for the same trick.

"Damn, that stings." Cain said aloud, "but that was a bit shallow dontcha think?" it was true, the wound was far shallower than Ichigo's had been, a fortunate side effect of his skin's added toughness. Although it was an injury that he should have been able to avoid, he needed to figure out the opponent's ability. Now that he had the gist of it he could finally see how much his training with Kisuke and Yoruichi had paid off, he pointed his index finger at Renji. "**Hado #4 Byakurai!" **

Pale lightning shot out from his fingertip at the shocked Renji, it pierced his left shoulder just above the lung, leaving a small round hole in the lieutenant's shoulder. Cain smirked at the success of his attack, "Surprised? I'm just getting started Renji, I…"

Cain looked down, a slim sword had pierced his stomach and his chest, puncturing his left lung. He looked behind him to see the noble looking Shinigami, "oh…shit". Cain began to fall, and he saw Ichigo rush in, and then he saw it. It was fast, he barely caught the faintest afterimage of what happened next but he did see it. Whoever the man was used a super-fast shunpo and pierced Ichigo in two separate places, causing him to fall to the ground as well. As he was fading into unconsciousness his only regret was that he didn't see it sooner, not that he has any delusions that he would have been able to stop it in the first place, but he would have been able to help Ichigo in some way. His last thought as he faded into unconsciousness was how cold the concrete was.


	5. Chapter 5

** A/N: I'm planning on doing about a chapter a day for the next week or so, so please enjoy it while it lasts because my next semester of college is right around the corner and I wont be able to update as often as I am right now. Also, thanks to hylla for reviewing the last chapter. Now without further ado, lets get on with the show.**

Cain hurt, getting run through with a sword twice in rapid succession tended to not be so good for a person's health. What hurt more than the injuries he had sustained however, was the feeling of absolute powerlessness that he felt, and he really didn't like feeling powerless, time and again it reminded him of the day he had found his parents dead on the floor with that hideous monster known as a hollow feasting on their bodies. The blood of his parents running down its muzzle of its mask, the image forever carved into his memory, there was no sign anywhere of a fight, his only conclusion being that they had been taken unawares.

Cain remembered his reaction finding the creature there…he had snapped like a dry twig, grabbed the nearest broken piece of furniture and ran at the creature, attacking it in a blind rage. He had been prone to such events when growing up, times when he would act in an irrational manner, his parents had always assured him that it was perfectly natural. He also remembered how easily the creature had dealt with him, he had been rag-dolled, thrown around the room and almost killed. He had been covered in blood, a combination of his own and his parents, and as the room was fading from his vision, something inside him, something bigger than his usual episodes had snapped and given him a power that had let him kill the creature.

That incident changed him, his hair had gone from its former brilliant red to a startling pure white almost instantly and he felt a hole in himself fill, if only a bit. Only to have a bigger one open in his heart. The same hole he had only recently filled with his newfound friends and training.

Now, faced with the overwhelming power of what he could only assume was one of the "Captain" class Shinigami that Urahara had told him to avoid at all costs, he reached a single conclusion. "I need to get much, much stronger than I am now." He looked to the side to see Ichigo in much the same position he was in, only his kido instructor, Tessai was keeping Ichigo's body warm…something that he really didn't want to know the reason behind.

"Yare yare Cain kun," came the voice of Urahara from behind him, "it seems like you and Ichigo-kun over there had a run in with a captain." He frowned, his eyes taking the serious tone that they so seldom did, "it seems like you got off a lot easier than Ichigo over there, he had his Saketsu and Hakusui have been pierced and you just barely avoided that same fate yourself. Your instincts are quite amazing actually, without even seeing the danger you were able to, unconsciously avoid being stabbed in those two places by millimeters."

"WAAAAAA!" Came a voice from the mat next to Cain's, it seemed like Ichigo had awoken to find Tessai in his mat…to a very comedic result. Tessai was now in the corner of the room, his body contorted in a manner that could not have been very healthy.

"now that both of you are awake, I can explain what will happen," Urahara stated, his happy go lucky attitude being shelved for the moment, " Ichigo, I'm not going to sugarcoat this situation for you, Rukia is going to be executed for transferring her powers to a human, specifically you. Now I know that you want to save her but the training will risk your very life and there is no guarantee that you will survive it. My only question for you is, are you ready to put everything on the line for a person you've only known for a handful of months?"

Ichigo, being Ichigo, replied in typical Ichigo fashion "just tell me what I need to do." And with that he was led into the basement with Cain, they were followed by Tessai, Jinta and Ururu. He then turned around, and pointed his sword cane at the group, "Ichigo, you will be training with me, I will restore your Shinigami powers and beat some basic swordsmanship into you so that you will at least be able to take on a seated officer without dying on me or your comrades, after a few days you will meet the others here and I will teleport you to the outskirts of the soul society, from there you will infiltrate the Seireitei and rescue Rukia…"

He pushed his cane through Ichigo's head, pushing his soul out of its body, his soul chain fully visible and his soul body having barely a trace of its former power. Deciding that Urahara had it handled in such a way that only he could handle things, Cain followed Tessai to a different corner of the training arena, to begin Cain's own type of training.

"Urahara-dono has informed me of your talent with kido, if you don't mind I will test what he has already taught you myself and see what needs improvement, once I am satisfied that you know the basics, I will then instruct you in mid to mid high level kido."

"Alright Tessai-san, I hope I will meet your expectations" he took a preparatory stance, he didn't know why but he always found it easier to cast kido with his arms raised in a way that he felt was a ready stance, his left arm almost fully extended and center, the fingers of the hand slightly bent so he could move it in the desired manner when the time came, his right hand just behind the left one in the same position. He stared down Tessai, mentally going through his list of kido, mentally reciting to himself what each one did and how he thought it could best be used. He only knew a few Hado and Bakudo but he had a few new ideas, ways that he used them that would hopefully surprise the former kido corps leader.

"I shall begin then Cain-dono, **Hado #1 Sho!" **Cain felt the blow coming from the man, but he also knew something, the original Hado #1 was at best an unfocused shockwave, and he had, in between his sparring sessions, been developing ways of improving the kido that he did know. The results were excellent, in his own opinionhe was much better prepared than someone who just knew one way to use the spell.

He brought his right arm up from its stationary position and raised his first two fingers pressed together, the other three curled up, "**Hado #1 Sho," **he brought his hand down, his fingers making an imaginary downward line, the force from the spell following the path and forming a line in the air that flew towards the incoming spell from Tessai. The thought behind this was that, since the spells were of supposedly the same rank, he could divert the majority of the spell's force by creating a barrier in front of the incoming force of similar force in a more focused way he could split the spell's power and escape from it unharmed. The two spells collided and, to Tessai's amazement, his spell was split in half even as Cain's own spell dissipated he could see the lines that had followed in the wake of his own spell, leaving Cain unharmed in the process. "**Version 2: line of force**" Cain went on to explain "I devised a way to channel the force of **Sho** through my fingertips while they were still in motion; this allows a greater focus and shape for it than the original. All it took was a little thought."

Tessai was floored; this newbie was already making his own versions of kido that he had known for less than a month. He had only seen that kind of talent a few times in his entire career. He decided that instead of second guessing himself though, he'd ramp up his speed in casting and really test him.

"**Hado #4** **Byakurai, Bakudo #1 Sai!" **Cain saw the incoming Hado even as his arms were being forced behind his back, it seemed like he would have to do something drastically risky to pull off this one.

"**Hado #1 Sho!" **he used the push from the first level kido to break his arms free of the restraint, he backhanded the incoming lightning shouting his best hope for defense he knew, "**Bakudo #8 Seki!"** a round ball appeared from out of the back of his hand, the blue ball, intercepted the lightning and, like its name implied, repulsed it, causing a shock to Cain in the process but otherwise leaving him unharmed, in fact he could hardly feel his left arm at all. It was completely numb from that last stunt.

That last stunt was just enough so that Tessai could tell that he had a better than average grasp on kido and their applications. "Training begins in five minutes, take a break and let that arm regain some feeling, then we will train nonstop for the next five days exclusively in kido, you will be learning level 20 and above spells in both areas, failure to master a spell in the time limit I give you will result in a sparring match with me in kido, after which you will retry the spell, failure a second time will result in no further instruction, is that clear Zephyrs-dono?"

"Yes sir Tessai san…thanks again." He was psyched to learn more kido, his zanjutsu and hakuda just didn't feel as natural to him as the magical arts of kido, the only thing that even came close were his hoho techniques. Kido on the other hand was almost as natural to him as breathing, the control over his reiryoku that he had gained from the use of his battle waltz made the tasks challenging but not impossible and his quick thinking allowed him to apply the kido in new and interesting ways, he couldn't wait to learn even more techniques that he could put his own spin on. He could feel that his ability in the art of kido was just blossoming into something dangerous, and when Cain felt something, nine times out of ten he was right.

**Ten days later **

Cain was ready, he had been beaten down by Tessai more times than he could count, but each time he would figure out more and more about how the spells worked. He had learned more zanjutsu techniques from Kisuke and had sparred with Ichigo, he had been practicing some of his kido variations, and he believed he had some good tricks in store for whatever lay him store for him in the soul society…or so he thought. He also had been practicing his high speed movement in conjunction with his kido to devastating effect during his spars with Tessai, not that he had ever actually hit the man, but he knew he was getting better. He now was able to use bakudo up to and including #61, and he was not that much worse at kido, only being able to use up to level 54 with incantation. He was partial to the quicker, less deadly Hado and the binding Bakudo as opposed to the stronger and slower ones, but there was almost no doubt as to what he was best at. He was best at modifying the individual kido that he knew to suit his needs.

"Now, is everyone ready?" Kisuke asked the assembled team, there were Ichigo and himself, Uryu, Chad and Orihime and Yoruichi in her cat form. They stood before the Spirit Exchanger , all clad in their respective gear, Ichigo and himself in their shihakusho, Uryu in his Quincy clothing, Chad and Orihime in casual clothes that were unique to themselves and their respective personalities.

The spirit exchanger opened, the portal to the other dimension gaping wide, and the portal glowed scarily. "now this is gonna be fun," Cain exclaimed, this was going to be the most fun he had in years.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: thanks to everyone who read the last chapter, it really helps me write more and more. Now here is another chapter! Oh yeah, I don't own bleach.**

The world they landed in was as strange and foreign as could be. Then again it was the bridge between worlds so they didn't really expect it to look any kind of normal. The walls were pulsing and wriggling making it very distracting to run through, and the ominous feeling he was getting from behind them was not helping at all. What made it even more infuriating was the fact that everyone else besides Uryu had no concept of high speed movements. And the only reason he didn't leave everyone else behind was because, he had to at least make sure the rest of the fighting force got there.

The hardest part of it though was the warning about the Kōtotsu, which as it turned out, was just in time for their journey. They were currently all running like hell towards the exit, the train like thing on their heels; they were almost out when Orihime, trying to help used her Santen Kesshun which incidentally caused them to be expelled into the soul society in an explosive force.

"Damn it" Cain exclaimed as they were falling, extending a watered down version of his battle waltz technique to catch everyone before they crashed into the ground. The weight of them dragging on his improvised net almost made his arm dislocate but he was at least able to keep all of them from being hurt as they landed on the ground. "Well that sucked the big one" Cain sighed, exasperated at the whole situation, "good thing I keep in practice with my wire techniques or who knows what would have happened."

"Well, at least one of you has any sense around here," came the masculine voice of Yoruichi in her cat form, "you realize that if any part of the Kōtotsu had touched any of the Shun Shun Rikka then every single one of us would have been killed."

In the near distance there was what could only be assumed to be the Seireitei, which Ichigo sprinted towards. Then, as if he had tripped some kind of silent alarm, a giant gate fell from the heavens. And with the gate, a giant man In a standard Shinigami shihakusho came down as well.

"That's Jidanbo Ikkanzaka, the guardian of the West Gate, he has not lost to anyone in three hundred years" Yoruichi explained to the group, "it would be wise to not engage him in a fight." And so, predictably Ichigo challenged him to a fight, and upon his victory stood proud as the gate opened. Immediately, Cain sensed something from the other side of the gate, a presence that reminded him of a snake, cold and sinister, with an underlying sense of loneliness and the sacrifice that came with that loneliness, a person not unlike himself perhaps, but much, much older and more experienced in deception and trickery.

"Ichimaru Gin, third squad captain of the Gotei thirteen…what are you doing here?" quivered the voice of the giant guardian.

"Now now Jidanbo, ya know yer not supposed ta open the gate for anyone." Ichimaru sneered, his unassuming gait and posture throwing everyone on guard. Even his physical appearance reminded Cain of a snake.

"B-but I lost and a guardian opens the gate when he loses, it is only natural." His knees quivering as he was leered at by the captain class Shinigami.

"What kind of idiotic response is that? You misunderstood. Even if the guardian loses, he still may not open the door. If he loses then…he must be executed." At the end of his sentence a his sword flew towards the gate guardian's arm, only to be intercepted by three dull yellow spinning round shields that appeared in front of the extending sword. "What's this?" he asked, his eyes, if at all possible, narrowing even more.

"**Bakudo #39 Enkosen, version 3: tri-barrier"** Cain's voice came from behind the giant as he stepped out from behind him, "I could feel your killing intent from behind the gate. Were you waiting for us Captain-san?" Cain drew his face into a grin, mirroring Gin's fake smile, his face however looked far more foxlike than snake-like, if one looked closely enough they would be able to see a faint outline behind both people, behind Gin, a pale white snake rearing its head to strike, hypnotically swaying to and fro, and behind Cain, a red fox, teeth in a type of grin that promised nothing but bad things. As the rest of the group looked on, the general consensus was that they should probably fall back, and by consensus it meant that Yoruichi was making everyone get clear of the gate, Jidanbo included.

"Yer pretty smart if yer makin' yer own kido, and tha' reiatsu of yer's sure doesn't feel like any I've felt before." He let a bit more of his reiatsu out, almost causing Cain to buckle under the sudden pressure of the increased weight of it, "but yer still too early to be bargin in where ever ya please, **Ikorose Shinso**" the retracted sword leapt out at Cain with zero preamble. Cain, instead of getting scared, drew his own zanpakuto and intercepted the weapon's path with a diagonal cutting motion, missing his target by milliseconds; he wound up being thrown out of the Seireitei with a sword impaled through his stomach. He hit the side of one of the buildings with enough force to completely smash through the wall and create a deep indent in the other.

"Bye bye" Gin waved from behind the closing gate, "come see me when yer a bit stronger than that kay Kitsune-san?" these were the last words Cain heard before he was pulled into blackness of unconsciousness for the second time in far too soon.

"Damn it, this better not be a common thing with my fights otherwise I'm not gonna get very strong am I?" he passed out.

**Inside Cain's inner world:**

Cain awoke in a far different location than he had been in previously; beneath him was a carpet of fresh grass and around him, a thick forest of trees. He inhaled deeply, the smell of vanilla and lavender hung in the air around him, even though none of the plants in the area could have possibly produced this particular scent. In the distance he noticed a small light in the otherwise dark area. It must have been nighttime because the air around him was cool and crisp, his breath created a small fog each time he exhaled. It felt _perfect_; his blood was reacting to his every step. This place felt familiar to him somehow, and with every step towards the light he became more and more convinced that he had been here sometime before. He neared the light, as he got closer to the source he noticed that it was coming from a fire inside an alcove in an absolutely gigantic tree. Inside the alcove, seemingly asleep, was a large fox, its coat was a blinding white color, its tails, a majestic orange red color, much the same as the flames in front of it. As he approached, the fox raised its head, the nine tails that had been wrapped around it unfurled and waved behind it, giving the fox a majestic look.

"_Come closer kit." _Came the voice, soothing as it was, as if it was talking to its own child, "_let me see how much you've grown" _the voice was unmistakably feminine, and unlike Yoruichi's, he could tell that this was the creature's genuine voice.

"Where am I?" he inquired of the massive fox, "How do you know who I am?" he was genuinely interested in where he was and wanted to know why it felt so familiar to him, and even more than that, he wanted to know why the being in front of him was so warm and comforting instead of, well anything else he had been led to expect.

"_What do you think I am kit?_" the Fox asked, its head tilted to the side as it looked at him intensely, "_As for where this is, I'm sure that sly shopkeeper Urahara has told you something about a Shinigami's inner world._" It gave a short chuckle, "_Although by now I guess you already know that you are more than just a Shinigami." _

Cain looked pensively at the creature; he knew that he had encountered something like that before. 'The voice is almost identical to my instincts, according to Urahara my enhanced instincts are a result of my hollow blood.' "You are the spiritual representation of my hollow blood, aren't you?"

The fox looked at him, and then gave a huge laugh, it was not a threatening laugh instead it was rather a kind hearted one, one that filled him with cheer instead of dread. "_Is that all? I guess that _is_ all that I am now, very perceptive of you kit. It seems like you are up against some powerful people these days kit, you will have to grow and expand your own abilities. You have it in you to become more powerful than any before you." _A glowing white glove appeared above her head, its fingers ending in claws and it had a perfect black hole in the center of the top part of the palm, "_if you want to grow in power to protect your friends, then listen well, don't dwell on the past, for it will blind you, ignore the enemy for he will trick you, illusions are your birthright, do not let others take that from you, awaken from your half lived life and seize the greatness you were born for now CALL OUT TO ME!"_

**In The house of Kukaku Shiba **

A huge spike of reiatsu tore through the house, it was a pure white color with orange red highlights streaking through it, and the amount of it was incredible. "Despierta, **Kyuubi**!" Rang Cain's voice through the house, the rest of the house came running towards where Cain was resting, supposedly recovering from his injuries. When they arrived they saw a completely different person, as if he had gone through a transformation of sorts, his right hand had become pure white with a black circle on the back of his palm, his fingers now ending in sharp claws rather than his fingernails, his hair was now shoulder length and was as brilliant a white as it had ever been, on top of his head however he had two red furred fox ears, a trait that he seemed unaware of at the moment, most notably however were the nine flowing white tails with red tips that glowed with an eerie light. His eyes were unchanged however, but his canines enlarged in size, becoming more feral.

He felt, complete for the first time in a while, his current form was built for speed, and he could feel his reiryoku become much more easy to manage. Everyone was floored, not only could they sense his reiatsu, but they could tell it was like nothing they had ever seen before, it felt at once like both hollow and Shinigami but something different as well. Cain however could feel a slight imbalance within himself, as if one part was slightly stronger than the other, but the ratio was almost perfect. Instead of just being told he was half hollow and half Shinigami, he could feel the two distinct energies inside of himself, what's more is that he could feel them join together and become something greater than the sum of their parts. Something that would one day grow into a force to be reckoned with by everyone, but it was still in its infancy, it was not at the point of what would later be termed "transcendence" but it was definitely the closest thing to it that naturally existed in the current time.

"So, how bout we go kick some Shinigami teeth in." Cain said with a confidant grin on his face, "I've got a debt I need to repay to a certain snake." He followed Kukaku and the others to the canon in the backyard, and placed his hand on Reishukaku, "Let's get this party started!"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: time for another chapter…and I noticed something in my description of Cain last chapter, The white glove that he uses is on his left hand, not his right, so from now on he will be described as such. Sorry for any confusion that this causes. Also thanks to all the people who read the last chapter. Anyways please review…no really please. **

Ichigo was pouting in the center of the cannon, there was a very simple explanation for this, he was not allowed to use his own reiryoku to help fuel the Reishukaku, the reason being that he had, at best, abysmal and, with the arrival of Cain who, let's be honest was one of the best at manipulating his reiatsu next to Yoruichi and Uryu and had more than enough reiryoku to replace Ichigo as one of the main powerhouses for the cannonball.

"I still don't see why _I_ have to sit here holding the ball," Ichigo complained, his face in a grimace with a tick mark growing on his forehead. "I can help too you know!" he was being stubborn at this point just for the sake of being stubborn.

"Why don't you just be quiet and save your energy to beat the crap out of whoever is waiting for us on the other side of that barrier then?" Cain replied annoyed at Ichigo's whining, as he thumped the side of his head with one of his tails lightly.

"Could you PLEASE put those away right now" voiced a very annoyed Uryu Ishida , "the hollow reiatsu you are putting out is making me uncomfortable, it's getting on my nerves." He glared at Cain's tails, twitching as they continued to wave back and forth.

Cain grinned "I guess so, but I am turning back as soon as we land," his tails slowly retracted and once again became just a part of his shihakusho and his left hand turned back from white to its normal coloration. His ears receded back into his head to be replaced by his human ones and his hair and teeth both returned to their previous states. During the transformation lines of white ran along his body and into his left hand. His left hand was the last to change back into its normal state with the white flowing into the black circle and then finally disappearing. "Happy now?"  
>"Hmph" the Quincy replied, or rather grunted, "It sounds like it's starting outside, took her long enough." And indeed, the sound of an incantation could be heard from the outside of the cannon.<p>

"Everyone! Pour your reiryoku into the Reishukaku now!" Yoruichi ordered, already taking her position on top of the orb. The cannon shuddered, and fire came down the barrel of it just as soon as the round barrier appeared around the group of seven. "Hold on everyone!"

The cannon fired, the blast sending the spiritual cannonball high into the air, where it stayed suspended until Ganju pulled out some papers and started chanting. The orb then flew towards the barrier produced by the Sekkiseki rocks that made up the walls surrounding the Seireitei. Cain knew an important incantation when he heard one so he left well enough alone, Ichigo on the other hand didn't and so kept pestering Ganju about it, to devastating results. The sphere hit the barrier around the Seireitei and, upon breaking through, shattered. They hung there, suspended for several seconds, each one reaching for the person closest to them, Cain managed to grab Yoruichi's cat form, Ichigo grabbed Ganju's collar and Uryu and Orihime just barely managed to grab each other's hands before the concussive force from the orb breaking blew them all away in separate directions.

As he fell Cain moved his left hand over his right shoulder and the white glove appeared. He put his hand into a claw shape and called out "Despierta **Kyuubi!**" immediately he started to change into his new form, canines and hair started growing as his coattails fused with him turning into the nine white tails with red tips and fox ears growing from his head in place of his normal human ones, he pointed his index figure at the ground and intoned "**Hado #1 Sho!**" the force of the spell cushioning their impact.

**Meanwhile at the captain's meeting**

"What is that reiatsu?" inquired the captain of the twelfth squad Mayuri Kurotsuchi recognizing a unique signature that he could feel even from the first squad's meeting hall for the captains, "it feels like some kind of hollow, but it also feels like a Shinigami"

"I believe it feels like one of the insects I encountered in the world of the living," Responded the captain of the sixth division, Byakuya Kuchiki, "it appears as if he has grown much stronger though."

"Captain Kuchiki," demanded Genryusai Yamamoto, "you are to describe this individual to us, afterwards we will assign the second division to hunt it down and exterminate it"

"Excuse me," interjected Kurotsuchi "could we capture it alive, I am curious as to its composition, I want to experiment on it and learn its secrets." He started to drum his fingers together as he got a mad glint in his eye as he thought about all the experiments he could perform on the unlucky soul.

"No, whatever it is is an affront to the very fabric of soul society and such an existence cannot be tolerated under any circumstances, any effort on your part to undermine me any further _brat_ will be met with severe punishment." The captain commander of the soul society and the Gotei 13 brought his cane down with a sharp crack, "all squads are to hunt down the ryoka and exterminate them, the second division will be in charge of tracking down and eliminating the anomaly, failure is not an option."

As Genryusai finished his sentence, the hollow like reiatsu vanished from their senses, stunning all of them, except for Byakuya. "The ryoka has a keen grasp of kido, his ability was enough to surprise my lieutenant and, if the reports are accurate from his encounter with Captain Ichimaru it appears he has gained the ability to modify and create new versions of kido. It is entirely possible that he has had some kind of training from someone in the world of the living, most likely from the traitor Kisuke Urahara."

At the mention of Urahara, Soi Feng tensed, her eyes glinted with fury, and if he had contact with _him_ then it was entirely possible he knew _her_ as well. "I shall instruct the Omnitsukido to begin the hunt for this aberration at once."

"He has a foxy look to im if that helps any" chimed in Ichimaru, "It's a shame yer gonna kill 'im though, I wanted another crack at im." He snickered to himself "he's tricky though, and it seems he's gotten stronger somehow. Be wary of that one."

Soi Feng remained silent, ignoring the warning of the other captain, "He will regret the day he infiltrated the Seireitei. He shall be put to death in accordance with the judgment passed down from the captain commander." And with that she **shunpo'd** out of the meeting, going to the squad two barracks to rouse her squad, and to set the Omnitsukido on their newest target.

**With Cain in a random part of the Seireitei, near Sokyoku Hill a short while earlier.**

He landed with a thud, the impact of his kido had left an indentation in the ground, and beyond the smoke he sensed several reiatsu signatures. 'this ought to be interesting' he thought to himself, 'maybe I can finally fight someone without dying, that would be nice'. He noticed that Yoruichi was missing, presumably she had already left, and that was positively fine by him. He was about to cut loose for the first time…and it felt oh so good his tails were flicking back and forth excitedly as the smoke cleared. He grinned when he saw he was surrounded by black clad Shinigami.

"Hello all!" he greeted politely, waving at the surrounding forces, their weapons drawn no doubt they had been given orders to kill him, "I see you are expecting something, me perhaps?" he gave a foxy grin, "well I don't want to disappoint you, Come on then!"

The Shinigami charged into the crater, sliding down the slopes with their swords drawn, Cain waited until they were almost on top of him, their swords bearing down on him, then he jumped high into the air. His left hand outstretched down towards the unfortunate unseated officers "**Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado #31 Shakkaho version 2 : rain of fire!" **instead of a large single red ball of energy being fired from his left palm, an absolutely massive number of lesser ones fell upon the unfortunate Shinigami, their clothes catching fire and burning them severely, leaving all of them unconscious but not dead, he was nice like that. He landed, his tails not even a bit ruffled by his previous actions, he didn't even feel drained from the technique. "and that's why I prefer the lower levels" he said to himself out loud, "they produce excellent results and are so easy to cast repeatedly" he saw a forest in the distance, "what better place for a fox hunt to take place?" he laughed to himself. "But I think this will come in handy first, **Bakudo #26 Kyokko!**" light shimmered around him, erasing his presence from the senses of his pursuers.

**Present time, in the forest.**

He was having a great time; he was currently being chased by what looked like ninjas through the dense forest. His eyesight allowed him to see everything in great detail, his heartbeat was elevated, his breathing on the other hand, was steady, he kept using low level kido and his newly named, **Kitsune Issen**, his fox flash, it was a bit cliché maybe, but it seemed to fit him and more importantly, it seemed to fit his powers real well. He was interrupted by a knee to his face.

"OUCH!" he exclaimed as he flew into a tree in the forest, he used his tails to cushion the blow but it still hurt. "And who are you?"

The person in front of him was of a petite build, she had grey eyes and black hair, her uniform was unusual, it was sleeveless and her uniform didn't seem to cover her shoulders and her back. Her zanpakuto was held in a reverse grip and her eyes were narrowed.

"Why should I give my name to a target about to be killed?" she flashed forward, appearing behind him, her blade at his neck as she pulled her arm back, decapitating him, but there was no resistance, "Cain" faded into nothingness as the real one stepped into the light from where he was, still on the tree. Her face looked shocked, how had he done that? He certainly didn't move out of the way, she would have seen it. It was like he had never been over there to begin with.

"Why should I tell you that? You may be pretty, but you still tried to kill me!" Cain teased her, his hand waving back and forth, his tails doing much the same, only in the opposite direction of his hand.

Soi Feng was taken aback; NO ONE teased her that way, not since _she_ had left her. And yet this, newcomer was openly teasing her, she blushed, no, HOW DARE HE TAUNT HER! "**Jinteki Sakusetsu: Suzumebachi**" Her zanpakuto transformed into a gauntlet and stinger combination, and her reiatsu spiked, going into shikai she could tell something was off about his entire area, "You used kido on the entire area!?"

Cain, although he was expecting something like this, was nonetheless taken a bit aback. Although, he did notice the hornet like pattern on the gauntlet, and he thought he could use that to his advantage. "Very perceptive Jooubachi (queen bee)" he saw her flush again, 'jackpot' "kido are so much more useful than most people, even most kido specialists realize. All I did was change the way I used some of em is all. In this instance you just walked into **Bakudo #26 Kyokko Version 2: kitsune den"** he grinned at her as five more of him walked out of trees, "they aren't solid illusions, but they are good for a distraction. I'm honestly surprised that nobody thought of this before." He saw Soi Feng glare around the clearing her eyes glint dangerously.

"You are dead meat!" she shouted at him.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: thanks to NerdyGothGirlMalice and CrimsonMercenary for their reviews. Another day another two thousand and something words, thanks to everyone who reads this and who doesn't get mad at me for this next chapter.**

"You're dead meat!" Soi Feng shouted at Cain, face contorted in fury, "Nobody treats me that way!" She flashed around the clearing fast enough to leave afterimages, at each image of Cain appeared an irate Soi Feng her Suzumebachi stabbing each one of the light woven images, causing them to shimmer and fade away, their forms having no substance. "Where are you Coward?!" she felt cold hard steel on her neck, without being able to sense the person until his sword was pressed against her flesh, an incredible feat for anyone to accomplish against the leader of the Omnitsukido. 'This cannot be happening,' she thought to herself 'I am the best assassin in the entire Seireitei and yet, this, person, this, FOX was able to get behind me without my being any the wiser' she smirked, her face lighting up a bit, 'he's good, but not good enough'

It was Cain's turn to be shocked, one second he had his sword pressed against her throat and the next he was being stabbed by the stinger end of her Suzumebachi. He felt some kind of poison enter his system and flashed away himself as he heard her say "Nigeki Kessatsu!" the butterfly mark on his chest expanded and his image was obliterated into nothing.

"Your pretty fast for someone that's about to die" Soi Feng taunted him, "but now you're out of luck, now that you have my Homonka on you it is only a matter of time until you are finished," she turned around and was face to face with Cain's clawed index finger pointing at her forehead, glowing white sparks already dancing on the claw.

"**Hado#4 Byakurai!" **Lightning flew from Cain's fingertip at the already moving Soi Feng, clipping her hair and cutting off one of her hairbands in the destructive course of its pass. He in turn flashed in his own way. It was clear as day which one of them was faster though. Where he had the advantage of the arena and his illusory copies, she was far faster than even the captain he had encountered in the world of the living, he could follow her movements with his eyes, but his body was not quite yet up to that particular task. And so, being part fox himself, he cheated.

Soi Feng could feel something change in the clearing that had long since become their battlefield; it seemed that with every passing second that the damnable fox she was hunting was, of all things, beginning to outpace her shunpo. At this point both of them were moving so fast that the only evidence of any actual confrontation was their afterimages, each one of the combatants had about five afterimages at any one point, the images reflecting one part of the fight. In almost every single one of them either one or another of the combatants were behind the other, the fight progressing in a circular pattern as Cain led the third squad captain in a circle again and again around the clearing, and with each pass around it seemed that he was getting faster and faster.

Soi Feng was perplexed at the situation, no one should be able to go so fast even after being in a fight for so long, by all rights it should be HER not him that was beginning to run circles around them, then she saw it, the secret to this stranger's speed, in the trees there was something glinting in the sunlight. They were threads! Hundreds and hundreds of thin almost imperceptible threads littered the spaces in between them, 'what kind of person has this kind of control over their reiryoku' she wondered, even more impressed with her target, ' this one is MY target,' she decided in her head right then 'no matter what, I will be the one to kill this creature.'

Cain thought he was pretty clever at this point, by using his battle waltz as a platform he was able to increase his speed exponentially by spring boarding off of them, he looked at his pursuer as she caught on to his trick, and saw something extremely dangerous in her eyes, the eyes of a huntress that had just decided to give her all to bring down her prey, no matter what it took. He then decided to activate his OTHER trap that he had laid while circling the trees. He turned around, knowing without looking exactly where each and every one of his threads were, he stuck out his palm, his sword deflecting Suzumebachi his hand right in front of Soi Feng's face, and intoned maliciously a sly grin on his face "**Bakudo #21 Senkienton"** the red smoke exploded into her face, blinding her. He landed dead center in the circle; right where he knew Soi Feng would see him and immediately move in for the kill, on his way down grabbing the key threads from his trap.

As predicted, she went straight for the kill, enraged by how he had been seemingly toying with her the entire fight, her movements too fast for any eye to see but made predictable by her rage, her Suzumebachi going straight for the Homonka mark on his chest. He stood absolutely still; if he lost his nerve then the entire plan would be lost. He waited until the stinger was millimeters from his chest, the tip of the blade almost grazing the mark that would, without a doubt, kill him if it made contact. Then, at the last possible millisecond he closed his hand.

Her sword stopped dead in its tracks, she couldn't move at all, her target was close enough to touch and yet she was physically unable to kill him. She closely at her arm, outstretched as it was towards the Homonka mark on his chest, and noticed something.

"It's called Battle Waltz, Jooubachi," Cain teased her for the umpteenth time, the fur on his tails was dirty from the fighting and he was breathing raggedly, he had multiple Homonka marks all over his body, even one on his ear, it stung like he had been stung by a bee, or in this case it would be more accurate to say that he had been stung by a hornet, "It is a technique unique to me that allows me to make anything from razor sharp wires to the duller, thicker ropes that are currently tying you down and away from me, they should be able to hold long enough for me to get out of here though" he shrugged, still trying to get a rise out of the captain, "while we're here though, why don't we exchange names? It'll make it much easier for you to shout out when you're trying to kill me again" he grinned at her immobile body "Mine's Cain, Cain Zephyrs. What's yours?"

"Mine? Well I guess I might as well tell you?" she laughed at herself, he had thoroughly humiliated her, but it felt good to let off some steam after a hundred, years, and to her it was LONG overdue, she was still going to kill him, that hadn't changed but he respected the creature for pushing her to go this far, HE at least knew how to be deceptive, something that ninety nine percent of the Omnitsukido could learn to emulate, and to be honest with herself she actually thought he looked kind of cute, the blood dropping from his wounds was the perfect complement to the whole, silver white thing he had going, before he had reminded her far too much of Ichimaru, and the existence of even one of those was far too many for one existence. "Second squad captain Soi Feng. I look forward to killing you later" she winked at him, "that is, if you don't die on me first."

It was Cain's turn to blush, even as he knew she was teasing him, but at the same time he knew that she meant it about how she was going to kill him, and the look in her eyes said that the death was going to be slow and painful. "See you around then Jooubachi!" he grinned at her, knowing that he was being allowed to leave for now, but that she would be back, very soon to kill him and carry out the hidden threat of it being, well, horrifically painful for him.

"Kill you later Kitsune-san" she replied to him, with as many times that they had crossed blades they had actually gotten a pretty good grasp of each other's personalities, and, if circumstances had been different, they would have most likely been great friends, however, even in the short time that they had known each other a bond of mutual respect had formed between them. And they knew that not one of them would be backing down, she had her orders and she would carry them out, and he would never just leave his friends in a lurch.

As Cain flashed away from the scene he felt Soi Feng release the Homonka marks on him, and, although it went against his better judgment, as soon as he felt that he was safely far away from her, he, in turn released his Battle Waltz binding technique.

As he was walking away from the forest he noticed a large number of buildings suddenly get slashed in half, an incomprehensibly large reiatsu firing up from the wreckage, hiding himself within **Kyokko** he began to make his way over towards where the battle was occurring. However, on his way there he spotted something interesting, a man in what looked like a pharaoh mask was tailing Uryu and Orihime; it was probably his instincts that told him that he was up to no good. So, unseen by unsensed by the captain, or so he thought, he began to hunt the hunter as it were, in any case it looked like it was Ichigo fighting whoever had that bestial reiatsu, plus he was kind of tired and needed to regain the better portion of his own reiryoku, he didn't care who you were, you don't fight a captain and come out smelling like daisies.

As he was following the suspicious man he walked through a garden of one of the barracks and was immediately stopped by one of the people there. She ripped off the kido he was hiding under and glared at him, "So you are the one Soi Feng was assigned to hunt down enemy –san." The woman appeared elegant, her long black hair in a single braid down the center of her neck "But you are in my domain now and you will not be leaving until you have been healed." She grabbed the collar of his tattered shihakusho and drug him inside the building, pulling him into a room and forcing him to sit down, and looking him dead in the eye "My name is Retsu Unohana captain of squad four," she was as polite as possible but she also looked like she was trying to figure something out,

"I can tell just by looking at you that you are definitely a type of hollow that we have never encountered before, but you also have a familiar reiatsu, it reminds me of a subordinate I had a long time ago, he was always far too gentle for his own good, but he could use his reiryoku so well that he was one of the best healers I ever had the honor of working with." She began healing him, his cuts fading away as she cast her healing kido on him, "I don't know if you are related to him or not, but I heard he went missing in Hueco Mundo a fair bit of time ago, so, in honor of his memory I will not turn you in, you will instead rest here until you are fully recovered and then I will send you on your way." She looked at him with a sad look in her eyes as she left the room. Once outside and out of anyone's hearing range she sighed "What did that kid of mine get himself into that he had a kid with a hollow?"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I keep going and going on this thing, here's to another chapter. I hope you enjoy it and not flame me. Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. It's your support that keeps me going on this self-imposed challenge. I hope you enjoy.**

Cain looked around the room, it was plain enough, there were no hidden traps or anything of the sort and in the middle of the room was a plain mat for him to sleep on. To his irritation the entire room was bare, a Spartan approach but, he thought to himself, necessary for the patients to feel at ease, and in the corner was a vase full of bellflowers. There was nothing special about the room at all to be honest, and certainly nothing that would suggest that it was the headquarters of the healing corps of Shinigami. Then again, if he was an invader and looked into the room as it was and saw nothing that would suggest that it was for treatment of the injured then he wouldn't trash it as badly as he would if it did look like it was for immediate care of the injured. In fact, as he looked around the room, it actually was the perfect place for someone to hide something that they didn't want to be found; the only thing he didn't know was why a captain class Shinigami would want to hide him here instead of just killing him and being done with the whole thing.

The whole thing just didn't make any kind of logical sense to him. Usually when people did things they had a motive, and, even though Unohana had told him that she had known his dad, that still didn't add up. He had been told so little and it was starting to get on his nerves, without knowledge he couldn't formulate a good enough plan to keep him alive, let alone keep others safe, and he knew that SOMEONE had to have the answers that he needed. He just needed to find the person and get them to tell him what they knew. Although he suspected that the only two people had known the full story, and they were currently dead. He knew that he would get better soon, but also knew that he had been extremely lucky that Soi Feng had been as easily worked up as she was. If she had fought him with a clear head then she would have been able to dispatch him with ease.

He realized that the clash between the two high levels of reiatsu had ended not too long ago, it seemed like it had been a draw. He could hardly feel either one of the contestant's power signatures. And it appeared that at least one of them had been brought halfway to the healing corps. He sat down in his room, wanting to meet the man in person but not wanting to blow his cover. He knew that if he wanted to be able to take on a captain class Shinigami then he needed much more stopping power than he currently had, and while with his hollow half fully awake he was much stronger physically, he had no way of taking down any kind of strong opponent if forced into a situation where escape was impossible.

He drew his zanpakuto and looked it over, he could feel it getting closer and closer to its awakening. He also knew that he had to go back into his inner world in order to achieve a shikai, and that would require him going into Jinzen, a trance state that would render him defenseless if anyone walked in on him, and he was not about to let his guard down that far in hostile territory. That being said, he didn't have many options left if he wanted to get things done around here without being discovered. And, since he trusted Unohana, he didn't know why he just did, he pulled out his zanpakuto and placed it on his lap, the sharp edge facing outwards towards the door and took a meditative pose. He breathed deeply and sank into his own personal world.

**Inside Cain's inner world**

He opened his eyes to the same clearing that he had left, the fire was still burning strong and the fox, Kyuubi, was once more curled up around her fire. He walked up to her and cleared his throat, "Um…Excuse me." He hesitantly started, he was not exactly sure why but he felt that he should treat this being with respect, even though it was literally a part of his soul reflected in him.

The fox opened her eyes, and looked him over, "You look good kit, what do you need from me? I can tell from the way you are being hesitant with me that you are going to ask something that you think will offend me." She shook her head, a grin on her face "Go ahead and ask, although I think I already know what you are going to say to me."

Cain shifted, a bit embarrassed, "I want to thank you first of all," he began, "if you hadn't shown me how to awaken my blood when you did I would be dead right now." He went on, "but now I find that I am too new to this form", he gestured at himself, "I still feel incomplete, and I think that this isn't my full potential, even as I am now. So I need to ask you, where is my Zanpakuto spirit?"

The fox sighed, her voice carried on it a sad tone of resignation, "I had hoped that you would have had a lot more time to enjoy yourself before you ever had to attain either of your birthrights, you are too young, and you should be playing pranks with your friends and getting into harmless scuffles not infiltrating the most heavily guarded fortress in the three realms!" her voice was full of worry, "I don't want you trying to be some kind of hero if you're just going to get yourself killed!" she stood up, "I won't let you see him, it would lead you down too dark a path for a nice person like you, I refuse to cause any harm to you!"

"You really haven't changed a bit have you?" a new voice came from behind the fox "still wanting to keep our boy safe from any and all troubles."

Cain was floored; it couldn't be, not after all this time had passed. He watched as the fox shrunk down and assumed a form very close to what he looked like currently, her hair was as radiant as moonlight, her beauty was a simple thing, she simply was beautiful, bit he knew of her in a different way, he knew her as his mom. Standing next to her, wearing much the same clothing as his son was his father; he was rather average looking, the only real differences between Cain and himself being their hair color and eyes, his being far more intelligent and more understanding than most. "I guess you are going to have a lot of questions for us and I'm going to answer them. But not right now. You need to learn our names" he looked to the woman standing next to him, "as your mother, she always wanted to keep you safe from everything, including yourself, so when you were young she sealed a part of herself inside of you to keep you from going to wild. That was then, now you need all the power you can possibly muster to overcome what lies ahead,"

"I never thought you would need to hear my name, not after I promised to never let your instincts fully free, but I guess now is the time to abandon all types of plans, my true name is **Kyoka**, I am the flower reflected in the mirror, call me in the same way you have been and realize your true potential." She turned back into her full sized fox self, "I trust that is sufficient for now then?" she was mad, she didn't want anything to happen to Cain because of him fighting but also didn't want him to be powerless, "let's see if he can hear your name now."

"I lost my former name when I became your zanpakuto spirit, Cain." His father explained to him, "I now am your zanpakuto in name, as well as its spirit. Can you hear me, my name is…**Onmyouji**"

"**Onmyouji** huh?" Cain mused aloud, "Now I know that I take after you!" he exclaimed laughing, "I promise that I will wield you with both honor and integrity" he stood up in front of the remnant spirits of his parents "It was great seeing you both again," he stated, tears in his eyes, "but I have to go, I've got friends that need me to help them out, I also know that I'm not going to be able to see you again for a long time huh?" he knew without asking that he would be busy in the near future and, although he would technically be seeing his parents in a way every day, he knew that these were shadows, a recording of sorts left behind, they weren't really his parents, but it did feel good to know that he could at least talk to them.

He felt something stirring inside of him, and knew that the next time he would be back was going to be for something even greater than anything that had been seen in this world. He could feel it in his blood. "I have to go now," he told them "if I don't go now I don't think I ever will." He took another deep breath and, much in the same fashion as his entrance, left.

**Back inside the room**

Cain looked around and saw that nothing had changed, he was in his basic Shinigami form instead of his awakened one and he could feel that he had been changed on the fundamental level. He felt ten times stronger than he was that morning and was completely healed up. He felt that he could go toe to toe with just about anyone right then. That is until he felt something happening near the Sokyoku , it was the same signature he had felt on the night that Rukia had been captured by that captain guy. Eager to test his new limits, he decided to take a look and pay a visit to the Nobleman, and surprise the hell out of him. He left a simple note on the table with the bellflowers thanking Unohana for her help and also saying that he owed her a favor. And then, he flashed away with his **Kitsune Issen.**

**On the rope bridge between the Senzaikyu and Sokyoku Hill**

Cain reached the bridge just in time to block the brunt of Senbonzakura's assault on Ganju, using **Enkosen **to both block and disperse the numerous flower petals. "I see you still like picking on the weak and helpless Captain-san" he taunted, his zanpakuto drawn and his left hand already in place above his right shoulder, ready and prepped for a fight with the captain. "Don't worry though, I'm not gonna leave you wanting, **Despierta, Kyoka!"** his reiatsu soared, putting him about equal with what he thought the man in front of him was capable of, he could see each little petal of the blade as if they were in slow motion and he had a sneaking suspicion that his body would be able to keep up this time, but, sadly it was not to be as Ichigo showed up, covered in bandages and looking like he wanted to take on Byakuya himself.

"Would you mind leaving this to me Cain?" inquired the abrasive Shinigami substitute, "I have a score to settle with him"

"I would love to," replied Cain, spying Yoruichi's human form out of the corner of his eye, "there's just one problem though Ichigo," he put his hands in front of himself, "it seems our mutual teacher Yoruichi has other plans." As soon as he had said that he released the bakudo he had prepared, Senkienton. And all three of them vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving Hanataro and Ganju at the mercy of the merciful Ukitake.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Thank you all for the continued support of my fanfiction, without it I would have stopped this challenge a long time ago. I am proud to announce that I am one week into this self-imposed challenge and am still going strong. Also, I am wondering whether or not to do the bount arc. I am leaning towards doing it but if you don't want to read it then I understand. I don't know whether or not you're all sick and tired of my writing yet but since none of you have called me a no talent hack I must be doing something right I guess. Please review!**

They arrived at the underground training area that Urahara had made underneath the Sokyoku Hill, Ichigo was furious at Yoruichi for having interrupted his attempt at attacking the sixth division captain, and at Cain for going along with her on it. "What the hell guys!" he yelled at them, "I was just about to defeat that guy and save Rukia!" he drew his Zangetsu, "Now move so I can go save her!"

"You? Best him? Are you insane!?" Cain laughed, his tails trashing back and forth from how hard he was laughing, "That's the best joke I've heard in a while!" he brought up his index finger at the substitute Shinigami, "**Bakudo #61 Rikujōkōrō" **light shot forth from his index finger and flew right into the substitute Shinigami's midriff, five more coming in at different angles forming six points on the Shinigami in a circle, completely barring his movements. He struggled against the spell, realizing that it was of the same type that Rukia had used on him in their first encounter in the world of the living, he figured that if he just strained himself as hard as he could he would be able to break free. And so he struggled, veins in his face visibly straining as he fought to break himself free, for five full minutes he tried to break free of the technique that Cain had cast on him all to no avail.

"That spell is one of many Kido that Shinigami are able to use, and if you can't break through mine then you have absolutely no chance against that captain. I've tangled with one before and let me tell you, you would die in seconds, from what I hear each and every captain, except from the guy that I hear you fought, can not only use a Bankai, but has mastered it." He looked at the blank look he was getting from Ichigo and glanced towards Yoruichi, "You haven't told him about bankai yet?"

"not yet," she calmly explained to him, secretly ashamed "Kisuke didn't tell me everything but I expect that he thought something like this would happen, the only thing that he couldn't seem to fit into his plan is you." She looked at him, as if he was a complete and total mystery, something that by all rights should never have existed but did anyways, as if to say _Screw You_ to the entire system, and the perfect ace in the hole to have "I still don't know where you came from or how you even came to be but it seems like your existence is the only thing that Kisuke can't seem to explain."

"That seems to be my entire life so far Yoruichi san; by the way, do you know a bee in soul society? Because the captain I fought seemed to fight a lot like yourself," he shrugged it was none of his business if she did or didn't, "she seemed awfully easy to tease into a corner. Just so you know." He walked towards the door, intent on leaving for however long it was going to take Ichigo to train himself up.

"Where are you going?" inquired the former captain, "I thought you said that he needed to train. Don't you need to train yourself?" she was curious to see what was going through his head at the moment, one second he seemed like the most rational person you could hope to meet, and the next, he was running of in some random direction without even knowing why himself.

"I don't do too well studying, even just keeping some of the skills I already know how to use seems like a waste of time for me, I know that I probably should do that though. So I guess what I am trying to say Yoruichi san, is that I am going to do some field testing on my new abilities. You train Ichigo to achieve bankai, I am going to go cause as much of a distraction that I possibly can." He smirked "I am a fox after all!"

He flashed towards the entrance, "see you in a few days guys!" he reached the doorway and opened it into the fresh early morning air. He flashed himself on top of the hill, the giant halberd right next to him and the execution platform right in front of him, he was sure that if anyone had bothered to look up at the hill he would have been seen, but in this case he wasn't even spared a glance, in fact he saw several skirmishes taking place, but what held most of his interest was the fact that someone with white hair was facing off against Ichimaru, something that he had thought odd because he knew that Ichimaru was too good at hiding things to ever be caught, no matter how high profile the crime. He flashed himself down towards the area in dispute, waking up his blood on the way down, laughing as he crashed himself into the rooftops just behind the snake like man who looked like he was about to kill someone.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, the battle turning from deadly to shocked at what had just occurred in mere seconds, everyone forgetting the near mad Hinamori and looking at the silver being that had just crashed down behind the third squad captain.

"Well look at that," he exclaimed to himself "that far in just a single push, I call that progress!" Cain stood up, brushing all the dust and debris off of him as the people around him, with the exception of Ichimaru, stood stock still, not knowing what to make of this strange man that had interrupted their fight seemingly on purpose, and looked like a silver fox. "I need to work on the landing though." He looked around him and smiled, a fox like and impossible to tell what he was thinking smile, "Now I know your name," he pointed at Ichimaru "But I don't know any of yours" he pointed at everyone else present. "My name is Cain Zephyrs and yours?"

Too shocked by the arrival and manners of the intruder they responded without thinking, each of them telling Cain their name and rank. It was really not that surprising that they would answer him, since he had completely taken them by surprise and given them no time to think over or process the situation, and he took full advantage of the situation. "Well now if it isn't the foxy kid I met earlier." Ichimaru began his visage as unreadable as it had always been "Now how'd ya avoid bein stung to death by our resident bee?"

Cain shrugged off the taunt by Ichimaru, "I simply put honey inside a trap and closed it shut." He retorted, "How'd a clever snake like you wind up getting yourself caught at all? I thought you were far smarter than that." He looked around, getting the feeling that someone had just tried to stab him, when he turned around he saw the man who had introduced himself as Izuru Kira had his sword point on his back and was visibly trying to pierce his skin, despite the blood that was pouring from his own hands, "I thought that anyone working for you would be smarter too." He slammed one of his tails into the lieutenant, causing the poor man to cough up blood, and to be sent away from him, "as much as I'd love to stick around," he addressed everyone, "I don't think that taking on two captains at once is within my abilities, plus im looking for someone so" he flashed himself away, captain Hitsugaya and Rangiku in hot pursuit.

"I know ya aint gone foxy" Gin laughed as Cain undid his **Kyokko **"You've certainly gotten a lot stronger than ya were when ya first arrived here, good." He turned himself around and motioned Cain to follow "that means ya can help me with a little task I have going on" he looked at Cain, his eyes showing his true intentions for the briefest of moments, then walked along, Cain redid his **Kyoko** falling into step with the Captain, "Ya see, we have a lot in common foxy," began Ichimaru "We have both lost somethin to a certain man," his voice, although it seemed unreadable to most people, carried in it very faint signs that only Cain would most likely be able to pick up on, being much the same type of person that Ichimaru was, only on the opposite side of the aisle,

"I know that you're the kid of some hollow that he tried to recruit into an army of his, she was the only person tha ever gave im pause aside from the captain commander" he turned a corner, bringing him into a dark alcove from which he could see the people walking past him but they couldn't see either him or Ichimaru, "I'll give ya a picture, ask that cat teacher of yer's who it is. He is the reason why yer parents are dead, when ya hear things about how a captain has died, be ready tha's when the plan he, I and another captain have are going to be put inta play" he handed Cain a picture of a brown haired plain looking man, with nothing in particular to make him the prime suspect of anything, "Just be sure that when the time comes you are ready to make it believable, it'll all go down on the day of that Rukia chick's execution," he then looked around to make sure that absolutely nobody was around before he told Cain the next part, "That Ichigo of yer's is the key to stoppin him, make sure that whatever happens he makes it outa there alive." Gin looked around again "Gotta go foxy, have fun with whatever yer doin"

When Ichimaru vanished from his perception Cain took another look at the photo he had been given, it looked the same but something was off about it and he could tell that there was some kind of kido imprinted on the paper, instead of worry about it however, he brushed the entire conversation off of his mind for now, after all, Rukia's execution wasn't for another three days, he had plenty of time to figure it all out "what an interesting plot I've wondered into," he laughed "Now not only do I get to have fun testing out my new abilities in a few days, I get to get some answers from the son of a bitch who killed my parents!"

He stopped, first thing was first, he was going to find people who thought that this whole execution thing was bullshit and gather a kind of resistance of sorts. There had to be captains who thought much the same, if there was one thing that he had noticed about the captains was that, although all of them were insanely powerful, that was the only common link between them. In particular he was going to visit that Ukitake guy that had been present at the bridge when Hanataro and Ganju had been taken into custody earlier that same day. Was it a huge risk for him to be taking? Yup, but where was the fun in a sure thing, it was much more interesting if you worked out the fine details of a plan on the go. But even before that he had a visit to pay to the prison cells, and a message to get to the allies he knew he already had.

On the way he passed by the fourth division barracks, and on a whim. Put several bellflowers in front of them. Then he went to the room that he had stayed in previously, thinking that it was in a part of the barracks that were not frequently patrolled , he needed to have a conversation with the fourth division captain, and what better thing to do then end the day in the same place he had started it in.


	11. Chapter 11

**The next day, in the fourth squad's headquarters. **

"Give me one good reason not to haul you in for coming back here so blatantly!" Unohana asked him, her ladylike image just barely holding underneath her anger. And it was understandable to him, she was taking a big risk in not carting him off or reporting him, he still had no idea as to why of course but that was unimportant.

"I have some questions for you and you are the only person in a position to even know any of the answers that hasn't tried to kill me in the last twenty four hours. It seemed like my only option." He shrugged and put his hands in front of him balled into fists and palms raised, "but if you want to take me in then feel free, I won't fight back." He knew it was a dirty trick to play on her, but he needed those answers.

She hesitated, "I'll hear your questions, but if I don't like where this is going then make no mistake," her façade faded for just a second "I WILL take you into lockup myself." She then motioned him to follow her, "And I don't think you'd be back here for a trivial matter, we will discuss this in my personal office." A panel opened in the back of the room that led to a passageway to the main barracks.

"Huh," Cain mused aloud "So that's why you put me in here, you had a corridor to the room all along. It's not like that's creepy or anything." Still, it was a nice passageway, it had lighting and everything down it, there was even a portrait of Unohana, why she would have a portrait of herself in the secret passageway between her office and the secret room was beyond him but, as with a lot of things, he didn't question it, things were often just as they seemed and that was fine with him. It wasn't like he needed to know anyways, but his curiosity was definitely burning with questions.

The door on the other end of the passage opened up into a surprisingly comfortable office. While not as lavish as some captain's offices it at least had a desk and a couple of chairs in front of it for people to talk to the captain while sitting down. In the corner was another vase of bellflowers. They sat down and Cain noticed a distinct lack of paperwork on the captain's desk. He pulled out the picture that Ichimaru had given him the night before; "I believe this is one of your fellow captains?" he showed the picture of the unassuming man to Unohana, immediately her face showed surprise.

"Where did you get this picture?" She asked, "This is captain Aizen of the fifth division, he was murdered by his own sword last night, I have the corpse in my autopsy room. Why do you ask?"

"That picture was given to me by someone who knows something," Cain replied, not wanting to name names as it would blow Ichimaru's own plans, "According to him, something is going to happen on the day of this Rukia person's execution, I'm beginning to think that this guy is behind it all." he wasn't going to mention anything about his parents at this point, that was a personal issue that had no reason to be heard by some stranger, no matter how nice she had been to him. "Maybe something in the body could tell us what is going on."

Unohana stood up from her chair, and led Cain to the room where the body lay, "I can't quite put my finger on it but something is bothering me about it the body," she began as she opened the door to the room, "Nothing on the surface seems wrong with it but something is nagging me." The door opened and on the bed was not the man in the picture. Instead was a plain katana with a rectangular guard, there was no flesh and blood body to be seen.

"Um…did you take me to the wrong room?" Cain inquired confused, "there's nobody here, just a zanpakuto." He was beginning to get a bad feeling in his gut; things were going to get far worse from here on in if what he suspected was true.

"What? This is the body of the captain I was telling you about. There is no mistaking it. It is indistinguishable from the body of captain Aizen in every way. What could cause this unless…" she rushed to the door, intent of figuring it out herself, she obviously knew where someone could hide while pretending to be dead without dealing with the full blown manhunt that was still in progress for the intruders.

Cain blocked her way, "Wait," he stopped her at the door, "I have a better idea, instead of tipping our hands early, let's tell a few trusted people, do you know anyone who thinks that this execution is a travesty?"

"If anyone thinks so then it would be Ukitake and Kyoraku," she seemed to be pensive about the whole thing, if a captain would betray the Seireitei then anything was possible, "Rukia is Ukitake's subordinate and he takes that responsibility very seriously, and Kyoraku usually just goes along with Ukitake." She shook her head, "but this is huge, that is, even if you are right and Aizen is still alive then this whole thing is just a set up."

"The real question is, why do you trust me?" Cain inquired "I could be completely tricking you right now and you are just taking what I say at face value." This was honestly bugging him, he had every reason to know why this person was just trusting him without question.

"To be honest with you, you don't have any reason to lie to me." She lied to him, "you seem to know a lot even though you have just stumbled into this world, you have no prior allegiance save to your friends and the internal structure of the Gotei 13 is completely foreign to you." The look on her face was utterly unreadable, "the real question is, why do you trust me? I could turn you in at any second and not think twice about it."

Cain looked at her like she was speaking gibberish, "if you were going to turn me in, then you would have done it when I showed up here battered and powerless to defend myself. Not put me up for the night and let me go peacefully in the morning." He walked past her his tails receding back into his shihakusho, his overall appearance becoming much more human like until it was indistinguishable from the normal, except for the color of his clothing and the faint reiatsu she could feel he was just like any other Shinigami she would pass on the street. "How do I look?" he grabbed a spare black uniform off of the wall, throwing it on over his usual clothing,  
>"let's go meet those friends of yours."<p>

**Squad 13 barracks ukitake's room. **

Ukitake was not having a very good day, he had just gotten news that his subordinate's execution was not only going ahead as scheduled but was going to be held one full day ahead of schedule. His two third seats weren't giving him enough room to breathe, let alone meet with Kyoraku to plan something to help her and to top it all off a captain was dead. It was almost too much happening in too short a time period. Nothing this big had happened since Kaien Shiba had died. There was that one incident a decade or so back where the tenth squad captain had gone MIA, but nothing this major in a long time. He coughed hard a couple of times and sent his clingy third seats out to get some tea from the fourth squad.

"I *cough cough* know you are all there," he talked to the back of his room's wall, almost directly behind him, "Why don't you drop that spell you have going there and talk peacefully with me." He turned around and saw what looked like a transparent curtain drop, revealing not one person, but three of them, one of which looked like that ryoka who he had seen on the bridge the previous day, the other two however, "Kyoraku and Unohana! What are you two doing here with the Ryoka?"

Cain waved at the Silver haired man "I guess you didn't get a proper explanation about me earlier," he pointed to himself "The name is Cain Zephyrs and im just your average everyday hybrid trying to find his place in the world, whatever world that is at any given time is up for debate but im trying to make sense of this one in particular."

Kyoraku laughed at Cain's antics "Well ya see here Ukitake; the kid here thinks that your cute little subordinate's execution is a sham, a play by one of the other captains to get at something he shouldn't have. And according to him, it's Aizen, I never did like that Aizen anyways, he was hiding something that much I figured but to go this far, he must be plotting something big." He took a swig from his sake cup that he had had on him when Cain and Unohana had picked him up from his squad's barracks, "the question now is what we do with this information. We can't take it to the old man, he's duty bound to follow any order that the central forty six. And we can't go public, that'll just cause confusion and we don't want that."

"I have an idea Kyoraku" Cain chimed in, "It seems like my friends and I are the best kind of wild cards that you guys have. We let the execution go on as planned, you two" he pointed at Ukitake and Kyoraku "must know of some way to neutralize this Sokyoku thing right?" he got a shocked nod from the two veteran captains, "Good, then here's what we do, we let things play out, Unohana, do you have any idea where this Aizen guy could be hiding?"

"The only place he could hide for so long without being seen or detected would be the Central Forty Six's living chambers below the Compound, entry is forbidden to anyone, no matter who they are if they are not part of the forty six members. It is the only place in the Seireitei that would never be searched, no matter how desperate the situation." Unohana elaborated for Cain, "But that would mean that,"

"Yup, odds are these central forty six guys are already dead," he was deadly serious at this point, all trace of the trickster was absent from his visage, "I would question every decision made by the central forty six for a while back actually. A guy like this doesn't do things in half measures." His intellect surprised the assembled captains, they figured that the forty six would have been murdered only after Aizen faked his death, the thought never occurred to them that it could have happened sooner, "My best guess of the entire situation would be that the guy we're dealing with is only now showing his true colors, that means that this is his Finale, this is the last stage of whatever he has been playing at."

"What are you going to be doing during this whole thing?" inquired Kyoraku curious to see how the kid planned to bring all of this together, "It's not like it's going to be easy doing what were about to do, Ukitake and I will have our hands full with the old man, he is not going to like the fact that we are going to blow up the execution tool. He takes that kind of thing very personally ya know?"

"Me?" Cain smirked, "If you point me in the direction of the prison cells im going to go cause a little rebellion of my own."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: so I was reviewing what I gave Cain in the way of stopping power and realized that if I am going to have him playing with the big boys then I needed to give him some stopping power that he needed. Anyways, bount arc, yes or no. tell me otherwise im just gonna do as I please. Thanks for reading and please review. **

It was early morning on the day of the execution. The entire Seireitei was silent; all of the previous man hunting having finished the previous day the entire city was taking a day off for the execution. It was to be a swift affair, no real circumstance aside from the use of the Sokyoku. The entire atmosphere was a sham. Three of the captains were about to commit capital treason, another three were about to try and stop the execution, which in and of itself was a form of treason, four of them were going to try and uphold what they thought was right, the laws of soul society, three were neutral towards the execution but were doing their own things. All in all, the atmosphere was merely the calm before a very large and brutal storm. The entire system was about to come crashing down on its head.

All of this was as plain to see as the nose on his own face to a certain hollow Shinigami hybrid from his position on top of the Sokyoku hill, looking down from above towards the rising sun. he had done all he could to make sure that this Aizen's plans didn't go off without a hitch, but he had a feeling that he would get away with whatever he had planned anyways, from what he had heard about the man he seemed like the kind of guy that had a backup plan for each one of his backup plans.

"This is going to be far more trouble than it is worth," he sighed aloud, "The view up here is so beautiful but I've got a feeling that by the end of the day it is going to be gone." The sun was just coming up over the horizon, the rays catching his silver hair and setting it alight. He took another sigh, and another deep breath, letting the sun warm him up before getting up from his meditative pose. He cast a glance back at the Sokyoku, the huge halberd towering over him, several thick ropes tying it down to the ground. "You're probably lonely aintcha? A big ol zanpakuto like you with no one to talk to, never even getting used but to punish traitors and the like." He could feel something within the halberd responding, maybe, it was BIG, like an ancient spirit that was as massive as it was old and powerful as well.

Out of pure curiosity he touched one of the sealing ropes that surrounded the halberd. Instantly he felt the absolutely massive spirit that resided inside of it, and it was as curious about him as he was about it. _**"Why do you talk to me young one?"**_ The voice reverberated inside of his head, _**"No one ever bothers to talk to me, all they do is make me kill traitors and the like, then seal me back up."**_ He could feel the spirit shaking its head inside of the halberd, _**"even that young man Yamamoto seems to have forgotten me all any of them sees anymore is a tool to be used. There's no respect anymore for us zanpakuto, even for us old noble spirits." **_

Cain was astonished, that something so obviously ancient and wise would be left alone and used for something as barbaric as simple executions. "That's horrible!" Cain exclaimed "How could anyone just seal up such a spirit as yourself, let alone such a noble one!" He knew that zanpakuto were just as much alive as anything else in the world and he could hardly understand why most Shinigami used theirs as if they were simple tools. The whole Cooperation and communication parts worked for him, but he drew the line at subjugation. "If I might offer a suggestion to you, I do not want to see such a magnificent spirit destroyed and sadly, that is what's going to happen today if I can't figure out some way to save even a part of you."

"_**You really are an odd one, most people don't bother to watch the sunrise up here, never mind talk to me. I really don't want to die and it seems like you don't want me to either. Very well then, I shall bestow upon you a fraction of myself. It will serve as an anchor for my power if what you say is true. Then, because you were the only one to talk to me in several hundred years, I shall henceforth lend you my strength. But if you are lying to me then it will burn you out from the inside, and you will be burnt to a cinder." **_A small strip of flame spread from the tip of the halberd and curled itself around his wrist, forming a pair of wings and in the center of his right palm was a phoenix spreading its wings to either side of itself towards the wings on his wrist.

"So you're a phoenix huh?" Cain asked the spirit through the ropes, "I hope you and Kyoka get along, she's a nine tailed fox."

"_**As long as she is respectful I shall return the favor, and worry not young one, I know of your mixed nature and it matters not to me. As long as you stay the same as you are now, then I would be honored to fight alongside you." **_

Cain laughed out loud, here he was talking to an extremely powerful zanpakuto spirit tha was threatening to burn him to ashes and here it was talking about how his inner spirits were no big deal, even though one of them was quite definitely a hollow. But he wasn't going to whine about that, in fact he sensed he had a lot to talk to this spirit about. Not in the least of which was going to be explaining why he knew what was going down later that day. "I will be back Sokyoku, but I've got to get prepared for later. I'll be back before long, expect me near noon, I've got to make some preparations around the area to make certain that I can at least detain the captains that show up for the execution."

"_**Understood young one…I shall await your return. Remember the warning that I gave you."**_ The ancient presence receded back into the giant halberd, and seemed to fall asleep.

**A few hours later, before the execution proper takes place.**

The captains were assembled, with the addition of Ichimaru there were Head Captain Yamamoto, Soi Feng, Byakuya, and Kyoraku, Unohana had come as well, needing to keep herself seemingly unaware of the plot, each one of the captains were accompanied by their lieutenants, with the exception of Byakuya. Cain himself hid in the woods behind the captains, his own presence masked by several layers of reiatsu dampening kido, a subtle kido was also placed over the entire execution stage, turning it into the same Fox Den that he had fought with Soi Feng with, he could sense Rukia's determination, her will to give her life so that she could see her friends survive. There was one of the weirdly clad people at each one of the Sokyoku's sealing ropes. Each one readying the release of the strong seal upon it

"Release the Sokyoku!" the captain commander yelled, the seals broke off of the giant halberd, and it began to rise. As it rose it become covered in flames, and it took the form of a giant phoenix. "Kiko-ou" the captain commander proclaimed "the spearhead of the Sokyoku has regained its true shape and it will serve as the executioner. Once it pierces the prisoner then the execution will be over."

Cain could just barely make out Rukia beyond the flickering flames, he could almost hear her last words, a farewell to all the friends she had made. The phoenix rushed forward, its beak almost making contact with her when it was stopped by a man in a tan cape. "Well," Cain mused to himself "Better late than never Ichigo."

He could see Rukia burst out in anger at the Black clad teenager, probably telling him to run or something similar. He could also see the other captains react in shock at the substitute's progress. Kyoraku seemed to be the only one relieved at the situation, it giving more time for Ukitake to show up. The Sokyoku reared back for a second attack, almost making contact with Ichigo a second time when a thick rope bound its neck, stopping it in its tracks.

"you made us wait a while" came the voice of Kyoraku, tilting his hat at Ukitake.

"Sorry," came the reply of the sickly captain, "breaking the seal took a while" he brought forth from behind him a shield bearing the Shihoin clan crest, "but this oughta do it"

The two captains inserted their zanpakuto into the two slots on top of the shield, their reiatsu flowing up the rope and right into the Sokyoku's released form. The result was spectacular, the flames of the Sokyoku dispersed and, instead of flying down aimlessly and dispersing, they instead flew behind the captains and towards the woods, right into the awaiting palm of one awaiting hybrid. The flames entered his palm and the tattoo from their encounter earlier responded, the phoenix glowing a bright red, "Damn it that hurts," he took something out from his back, much to the surprise of everyone, it was a plain asauchi, he drew the nameless blade and put the palm of his hand that had the phoenix on it on the flat of the blade.

"Here's a new home for you noble spirit," the flames that the Sokyoku had dispersed flew into the Asauchi transforming it from a plain katana, into one with a golden hilt with a wing shaped guard. "it looks like you all don't really like your zanpakuto spirits, if you treated them nicely then maybe stuff like this wouldn't happen." Cain was already in his fox form, his hollow blood fully awakened, his visage reflecting that, but also, for the first time since he had come to the Seireitei his zanpakuto, not counting the newly obtained Sokyoku, was already drawn from its sheath, the blade glimmered, as if something was off with the image everyone was seeing.

Yamamoto was drawn off by the combined tag team of Ukitake and Kyoraku, and Unohana had no intention of fighting Cain, but the lieutenants all charged him, giving Ichigo and renji time to complete their own objectives. As the lieutenants were charging him Cain, for the first time intoned the release phrase of his first Zanpakuto, "**Bind the Demons! Onmyouji"**

Light sprung forth from the drawn blade, causing the charging lieutenants to cover their eyes momentarily, when the light cleared the blade had turned into a small dagger; on every inch of the blade were inscribed spell formulae. What was really interesting though was that behind him were five spell tags in an arch a bit behind his head, creating a halo like appearance behind him. The two to either side of center were blank, but the center one quite simply had the kanji for 'Seal' on it.

Cain pointed his dagger at the lieutenants and drew a triangle in the air with it, one triangle multiplied into three, and from them a total batch of nine beak shaped spikes sprung fom them and pierced the lieutenants, binding them to several nearby trees. "**Bakudo #30 Shitotsu Sansen"** the spell tag on the far left behind him was inscribed with the name of the kido he just used.

"this is the ability of my zanpakuto, **Onmyouji**, the ability to cast full powered kido that I have already mastered without incantation." He cracked his neck, "It isn't much in the way of stopping power, but it is useful when I need to use kido quickly and at full strength, it is the only thing that I can really call a unique power but…I am certain I can keep up with most of ya."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: day ten of my self-imposed challenge and I am still going strong. This is chapter 13 of my fanfiction of bleach. I am accepting applications for oc's for a little idea I have for this. Only requirement is that they must not fit in with any regular group. They can't fit in anywhere. Outcasts as it were. Bounts would be a good example but I digress. Please review. Also, this is just about your last chance to weigh in on the bount arc, yes or no.**

Cain flashed over to the bound lieutenants and knocked each one of them out with the hilt of his dagger. "Well for lieutenants they didn't put up much of a fight." He mused aloud, "sorry about your lieutenant Captain Unohana, she'll have a bruise when she wakes up but otherwise she'll be unharmed. He flashed himself next to Ichigo, "which one of these guys are you gonna fight?

"I've got the guy that looks like he has a stick up his ass. Good luck with the creepy snake guy." He shunpo'd over to Byakuya and began to clash with him.

Ichimaru walked over to Cain taking his sweet time, as if he had all the time in the world. "So, you set this up? Nice one foxy boy. That stunt with the Sokyoku that was inspired. How'd you know it was a zanpakuto?"

"How did you not?" Cain was confused it seemed like simple logic "A big weapon with powers that are far beyond anything else, how did you not connect the dots." He shook his head at the whole situation, "This whole thing was orchestrated by this Aizen guy huh? That takes a whole other level of planning. How'd he figure in us breaking in and taking on you captain guys?"

"To be honest I don't think he did, most likely he just ran with the events that followed and then based another plan around his original one. He is just as good at planning in the short term as well as the long term. Im going to go now, I've got an appointment to keep underneath the central forty six's judgment chambers. If you're gonna follow one of the other captains that's fine, just pretend ya don't know me. Well, aside from that little skirmish we had earlier. Later foxy." He vanished, most likely going to where he was meeting with this Aizen character.

Cain walked over to Unohana, "well, it seems like the first part of the show is over. How about we move on to stage two, I bet that kid from the other day is on to this plot as well. Let's follow at a safe distance and wait for this Aizen guy to reveal himself. Not that I think it will take long, now that this whole charade has come to its conclusion, he should be making his move soon.

**In the central forty six's residential chambers.**

The first thing that Cain noticed about the residential chambers of the supposed judiciary branch of the Seireitei was that there was ice everywhere, it was on the floors, on the ceiling and on the walls. If this hadn't been the soul society and if he hadn't seen the slowly bleeding out body of the silver haired kid he had encountered the other day on the floor, he might have questioned why, but that was not the case. He was standing behind captain Unohana in his basic state; he did not want to give away anything to this Aizen character until he was ready. He wanted to see the reaction of the man who had supposedly had his parents killed to his true form.

"Captain Aizen" began Unohana, "or should I say, traitorous criminal Aizen Sosuke?" Unohana kept up her bearing even as she could see all the blood that Hitsugaya was losing on the floor; she was able to still maintain an air of control.

"Ah, Captain Unohana, it was about time you came here, if you could. Tell me, how did you figure out I was here." Aizen began in that condescending tone of his, so sure he was of his own supremacy in everything that he didn't even notice that it was not Isane behind Unohana, but rather a different person, one with the same color hair as the fourth division lieutenant, but was someone else. At least until Cain revealed himself.

"She figured it out herself, after I told her that the body that you had left her wasn't real." Cain stepped out from behind the female captain and presented himself before the traitor captain. "That sword of yours must be some kind of special that it can confuse someone of even a captain's caliber."

Aizen blinked, perhaps taken aback at the sudden new player on the board. "And who are you? I was aware that there was another ryoka aside from this Ichigo and his friends, but it was described as having disappeared after its fight with Soi Feng, but I don't sense anything particularly special about you. Certainly nothing that would allow you to stand against a captain of her level." He shook his head, "It is of no consequence however, you are correct, my sword Kyokasuigetsu can place anyone into a state of perfect hypnosis, the hypnosis is so complete that even if one is aware of the hypnosis that they are still unable to break free of its influence."

"Oh, " Cain responded to the captain, "I figured it was something to that effect," he shook his head, something he had been doing a lot of recently, "a shame that you need to rely on such cheap tricks though," he drew his left hand over his shoulder, "it seems that we have something in common though, Aizen, both of us use illusions, and both of us are more than we first appear, **Despierta Kyoka!**"

"WHAT!?" Aizen visibly paled, even as Cain's form took on a much more vulpine appearance, "That's not possible, I KILLED THEM!" his visage calmed down, although there was still pale, not the best way to prove he was in charge, "So...she had a son with that pathetic Shinigami I found her with in the world of the living, this makes things much harder, or does it?" he drew his own sword, "The chances of you inheriting her quirk are next to zero, **Shatter, Kyokasuigetsu!**"

His sword glowed, almost blinding Cain and certainly shocking Unohana. Cain could feel something try and overwrite his senses, but that was quickly repelled. It seemed that whatever kind of control that Kyokasuigetsu required to take over the target's senses did not work on him. Moreover it seemed like Aizen could sense this as he once again paled. "Wow, I could actually feel your reiatsu trying to take mine over. That is quite some power you've got there Aizen, if I were anybody else that would even have worked. But it seems like you miscalculated on two parts. First," Cain put up the middle finger on his right hand, his zanpakuto in held by his remaining four fingers, "It seems like her immunity to your hypnosis WAS passed down to me, and secondly" he stuck up his other middle finger "It seems like you are much more preoccupied with whatever you want on Sokyoku hill than dealing with me, otherwise I'd be dead already."

As if on cue, Aizen began to be surrounded by what looked like a type of cloth, "if I wasn't on a schedule I'd kill you where you stand, Although, it is fascinating that you are a combination of a hollow and Shinigami, a state that I have tried to attain for years, it almost seems unfair. No matter, even you are but a pale shadow of what I will become. Farewell hybrid, if we meet again it shall be at the end of my blade." The ropes finished their job and surrounded the traitors, Gin having been the one casting the teleportation.

"They got away," Unohana said, "But what I must ask of you is how did you know that you would be immune to his zanpakuto?"

Cain kneeled on the floor and began to draw a circle, "Thing is, I didn't. I made a guess and it paid off, I bet I only have this immunity while I'm like this though, I wouldn't want to be caught dead outside of this form anywhere near him. Chances are I'd wind up like you guys, a slave to the sword's power." He finished the circle and it's preparations. "**Bakudo #58 Kakushitsuijaku" **the circle began to fill with a rising number. When it reached the number he wanted he maintained that spell and began to cast another, "I'm glad I learned this one, it's the highest one I know and it is a complete pain to cast." Two pointy things appeared and created a pattern on his arm, "Black and white net. Twenty two bridges, sixty six crowns and belts. Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night, engulfing clouds, blue line. Form a circle and fly through the sky. **Bakudo#77 Tenteikura!" **Cain began to strain, he didn't have the experience yet to keep a spell of this size going for long. "Captain Unohana…I…can't…transmit…anything…while …holding this spell." He gritted through his teeth, "You … are…gonna have to do it."

Unohana began speaking, her message going all around the Seireitei, informing everyone that it had been Aizen who had orchestrated the entire plot to have Rukia executed. She informed the entirety of the Seireitei of the plot of defection that the two captains, Ichimaru and Aizen possessed. When the message was complete, Cain let the two spells go, he had a splitting headache from maintaining the two relatively high level spells simultaneously. Seriously, it was like looking left and right at the same time, you try doing that without getting a migraine, all that aside, it seemed that he had used a relatively small amount of reiryoku compared to the level of the kido he had just used. "Must be something to do with my dense reiryoku, or something like that." He was feeling dizzy and nauseous, his head was spinning and he could barely make out the outline of Unohana. He felt something on his head. It was Unohana and her healing kido. He could feel his symptoms fading away as she did her job as captain of the fourth division.

As soon as he felt the last of his symptoms fade away he stood up. "Thanks, I almost lost consciousness there. I'm going to Sokyoku hill, if what I think about Aizen is correct then he will want to finish things there, he is an incorrigible showman, I think that is his only real weakness at the moment. Well, that and hubris, but those will both take too long to take him down." He sat down and took a deep breath and brought himself down from where he was, "I let myself get worked up there. Damn, I almost got myself killed. I thought I knew better than that." He began laughing uncontrollably , causing Unohana to look at him strangely it wasn't often that someone saw him like this, all of the tension that he had felt building up during the entire week.

"Well now," he kept giggling, transitioning between that and fits of laughter that left him gasping for air. " I haven't been this stressed in so long that I forgot what this felt like." He let himself fall back onto the ice, not to hard though, the cool ice felt good on his skin, letting all the excess heat in his body fade away.

"What do you plan to do now?" Unohana asked Cain as she began healing Hitsugaya, "It is unlikely that someone like you would just let something like this go without another word, let alone without trying to kill him."

"Don't get me wrong" Cain responded, still flat on his back on the ice covered floor, "I'm still going to try and kill the bastard. But im not so stupid so as to not recognize when I'm completely outmatched. No, I am most likely not getting another shot like that anytime soon. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I never got another chance at him. I don't have enough invested in it. Most likely all I will do is contribute to whatever conflict is on the horizon." He looked over to Unohana, "I have to get more used to my abilities and this world in general first."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: so this is the last chapter of the saving Rukia arc. I am going to go ahead and do the bount arc. Nobody has told me not to so im going to go do it. So yeah, oc's maybe? I'm still working on the particulars but let's just say that when I get that far, the captains aren't going to be the only ones ruining xcution's little charade. **

Cain arrived at his own pace to Sokyoku hill; he wasn't going to risk getting killed by Aizen until he was nice and ready to die. Seriously that Aizen guy was head and shoulders beyond any captain he had encountered, that is with the exception of the captain commander. He didn't have a death wish, was the point.

When he got there he saw Ichigo face down on the ground, most likely he had himself nearly bisected, at least that was what he guessed had happened by all the blood on the ground. Aizen was in full, "I know everything mode," using his knowledge to scare the people around him with things that they hadn't considered. He had just finished extracting the Hogyoku from Rukia's soul; there was what looked like a werewolf bleeding out nearby. Cain stood by, he saw Aizen standing with Rukia suspended by what looked like a collar, it was clear that whatever he had wanted from her was no longer a problem. He knew this because the next words out of his mouth were "Kill her Gin."

"Well if I must. Shoot to kill **Shinso." **Cain waited patiently, he saw the captain that Ichigo had been fighting shunpo and snatch Rukia away from the treacherous captain just as Shinso was about to pierce her frail body, instead it pierced his right shoulder. He released his zanpakuto; he could feel the other captains and their lieutenants' approach. He figured he could at least stall even someone of Gin's caliber for at least half a minute, the figured Aizen didn't want to get his hands dirty and gin had told him to make everything believable. Of course that also meant that the silver hared captain was going to try and kill him, but hey, he had the best possible healers In the entire dimension to heal him back up in case he got to badly injured. The only thing is, he had to stay alive. Yeah, this may not have been his best plan ever but it beat just standing there with at least two captains bleeding out and he did have to keep his friends in mind.

"Sigh. Let's do this the easy way then. First off, **Bakudo #21 Senkienton" **From the tip of his dagger spewed a red fog that encircled the entire clearing, "**Version #2: encircling fog**" the fog crawled through the clearing, obscuring everyone's vision, the name of the spell inscribed itself onto the spell tag on the far left behind his head.

"It seems like someone is here with us Aizen." Came the lackadaisical voice of Gin "shall I take care of it for ya?"

"Go ahead Gin, not that anyone can stop us now, all we need to do is wait." Gin took the direction of Aizen and vented his reiatsu. Immediately Cain felt a huge pressure on him, he could still move but the sheer volume of it was massive. "Now who could this little rat be?"

From the fog came an energy rope that bound his hands together. "**Bakudo #4 Hainawa" **It was effective for about three seconds until Gin broke out of it, the lower level bakudo were useful yes, but against someone of his caliber they were like throwing paper knives at a brick wall.

"What did ya think that would do ta me? Tha's only a level four kido. Even if there were a hundred of em they'd still not be able to hold me" The smoke began to clear, not a lot but enough to make out distinct shapes within, it appeared as if Gin had been surrounded while he was temporarily distracted. "What's all this?" Gin looked around, and saw multiple copies of Cain, three spell tags full now, all encircling him, daggers all pointed at the third squad captain.

"Bakudo**#61, Rikujōkōrō" **six bars of light pierced the captain, the fifth spell tag filled itself out and **Onmyouji **glowed "Sorry Ichimaru, but **Onmyouji** hates to not be prepared and only achieves its true potential once he is nice and ready." He pointed his dagger at Ichimaru, and flashed forwards, all the images flashing forwards with him.

Ichimaru slashed through one image, and received a shallow slash on his back for the trouble. "Now that's odd." Ichimaru mused aloud, "I know that that was the right one, how'd I miss." He had broken out of the previous spell with only little effort and had been able to clearly see Cain's movements, he had no trouble tracking all of the images, but somehow he had still missed.

"Take a look at the forth spell tag Ichimaru, that spell is not just good for concealment ya know." It was true; on his fourth spell tag was the name of the third spell he had cast.

"Kyokko?" Ichimaru was curious, "I thought that only bent light one way. To think that you could you manipulate and change kido to such an extent." It was an impressive display, but Gin could already see a giant gap in Cain's plan. "You haven't cast a single Offensive Kido on me yet Foxy. Must be the limit of yer zanpakuto to only use Bakudo, and without Hado, you're only half as effective." He pointed his **Shinso **at Cain, and the sword pierced another image.

"Half effective I might be, but I am still good enough at misdirection to make you miss twice." Cain was right behind Gin at this point, he took the farthest right spell tag from its place above his head, and stuck it to the hem of gin's sleeve, the spell tag vanished and the writing from it appeared on Gin's sleeve. He was able to do the same thing with the other three tags, util on the fifth time he was finally caught by the extending tip of Shinso.

"Damn, I thought I could get this last one on before you got me." He stuck his dagger into the ground, and grabbed the last spell tag from above his head, and stuck it on his forehead "guess it's a good thing that I don't need to put it on you then , I just." He was about to activate the last tag when he felt all nine of his tails get severed by a sword.

"FUUUUUCKKK!" he screamed, he tried to revert into his normal form but was unable to, the missing tails being unable to rejoin with him causing him to become stuck in his awakened state. And while that was normally a good thing, the pain he was in was most definitely not.

"Gin, why did you play around with him instead of just killing him is beyond me." Aizen flicked the blood off of his blade.

Aizen found his own neck surrounded by another sword, as well as himself surrounded by all the most powerful that the Seireitei had to offer. "So you were buying time, well played Fox boy." He began another explanation that Cain missed most of because of all of his blood loss. He could barely feel the relief that Unohana was trying to provide with her kido. Three rectangles of light flew down from a rip in the sky.

"Farewell, you two were definitely interesting, if either of you survive it will be interesting to see how you both develop, Fox boy, Ryoka boy."

**Several days later, during a captain's meeting.**

"Bring forth the one named Cain Zephyrs." Commanded the first squad captain. His wooden cane rapping on the floor, making him seem even more authoritative than he already was. He had already let Ichigo leave, and that was already left him agitated, he was going to get his way, and by that he meant, he was going to get his way if even if that meant burning everyone in the room to ash. Cain entered the room, he was in his normal form, Unohana had been able to reattach his tails, and afterwards he had finally been able to pass out, his awakened form being able to be released. He had both swords on him, his **Onmyouji** was strapped to his left hip, and **Sokyoku **on his right. And while he hadn't been able to talk with Sokyoku since he had accepted it into his soul. And he had a feeling that he knew what this meeting was going to be about.

"Unless someone has been telling me a horrible joke," Cain began "That would be me." Yamamoto looked at him, his brows narrowed at him.

"I understand that you have obtained something that belongs to the soul society. And you are not leaving here until you give it back to us." He flared his reiatsu a bit, the temperature in the room raising and the pressure palpable, "I will NOT take no for an answer, I am already doing far too much by letting you live."

"I'm going to have to say no" Cain replied not afraid of the captain commander, " you lot misused this noble spirit, and I'm not going to give it back to be used as a tool for executions, and all that was just if I could give it back, which I can't." he began to fade away, "I figured that this is what this would be about, so I didn't come in person, jeez, the amount of things that are possible with kido are just astounding don't you think? In fact, the real me is already entering the Dangai, good luck with all that manhunt things you guys are about to do for me. I'll be long gone."

Cain vanished from the room, much to the anger of the captain commander, but, seeing as how he never really expected the Hybrid to give back the spirit, he decided to respect the risky move that he had made. Even if he was going to kill him personally the next time he saw him, he had to respect the dedication he showed to the phoenix spirit. And he felt that he could possibly have potential, after all, it was not every day that anyone talked to the spirit of the Sokyoku, it was a powerful fire type zanpakuto, but it had been left behind when the owner died, it was a unique circumstance, usually a zanpakuto died with its owner, but this one outlived it. Perhaps it was waiting for someone or maybe it just didn't want to die.

"Keep an eye on him, he's going to be far more troublesome than he looks" he ordered the captains, "I'd tell Ukitake to give him a combat pass as well, but it appears that he is already on his way back to the world of the living. I can't tell if he will be a threat or not, but one thing is for sure, he is definitely going to be powerful."

**In the world of the living, right outside the dangai opening**

"So how'd your trip to the world of the dead go?" Urahara asked them all, he was awaiting them on a flying carpet, "I suspect everything happened easily."

"I'm going to kill you someday Urahara." Cain told the eccentric shopkeeper, "But since you let me live at your shop I'm not gonna do it any day soon."

After they had dropped off all the others at their respective homes, Urahara motioned to the sword on Cain's right hip, "Where did you get the other zanpakuto? I'm getting the same kind of feeling I would get when I was training underneath the Sokyoku with Yoruichi."

"That's because this _is _the Sokyoku, it's my newest zanpakuto. I haven't had any real time to talk with it since it became my zanpakuto but I have a feeling that he will give me some much needed offensive power. I noticed that you hid something very important inside that Rukia person." He shook his head at the shopkeeper, "I don't know what exactly this Hogyoku thing does, but I know that it is going to be a pain in my tails for the foreseeable future."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So here it is, the first chapter of the bount arc, nobody told me not to so here it is. Also, please send me some oc's, just remember they have to be outcasts, they can't be in any organization and there must be a reason as to why. Anyways, please review it helps me write, it really does.**

Cain awoke; he had recently carved himself out a cave in the training room below Urahara's shop, he had the shopkeeper furnish it for him, as payment for the whole soul society debacle, plus he had been helping out in his shop. So he had, in his free time, begun practicing in the training ground. It really was the best option for him, he had access to all of the information that Urahara had stashed away in the lab he had in the corner and a wide open space to practice with his kido. More specifically, the higher levels of his Hado, the higher levels meaning he was creating massive craters in the training room…on a daily basis. He left his cave and began his day the same way he always did.

"**Hado #33 Sokatsui," **Pale blue energy flew forward from his hand, crashing into the car wall and leaving an even larger scorch mark on the far wall, he then flashed himself in a circle, leaving an actual after image. He was getting faster; he kept this exercise up for about fifteen minutes. Without anyone to train with at the moment he was having trouble staying motivated to do any training. But he knew that, while he had a better grasp of kido in general than most, his offensive abilities were next to zero, to this end he was trying to raise his basic speed.

His brush with Aizen had taught him that he was woefully underprepared for whatever was coming down the pipe in regards to the future. He was working on his basic four Shinigami principles, his zanjutsu, kido, hoho, and hakuda. What was fascinating to him was that he had recently begun to incorporate his kitsune Issen into his hakuda. Because of the way his high speed movement worked in the first place he was able to push his reiryoku out of specific areas of his body instead of just the skin suit he was used to. This gave his hakuda a much bigger punch than it used to have. In addition he was working on figuring out how to fly using his Kitsune Issen. By continuously pushing out his reiatsu from the bottom of his feet he could hover in place. However he could not as of yet do anything more than float about a foot over the ground. He couldn't do anything else yet but it was far better than he had been able to do before.

"My my, you're getting better every day." Urahara's voice came from the top of the ladder, his head poking down and his hat completely ignoring gravity, instead staying on top of his head. How he could do that on a regular basis was beyond Cain's comprehension. "it seems like only yesterday you were only a few inches off the ground, now you're at a full foot. And you're sill in your most basic state, quite impressive. It seems like you know that in your other forms your basic abilities are the ones that are enhanced. Good." He dropped himself down onto the ground, using the reishi in the air as stepping stones on the way down. "You DO know you can do this as well right?"

"I mastered that yesterday." Cain stepped up onto the air, creating the platform of reishi beneath him as easily as breathing. "It just kind of falls into place whenever I'm in the air, but what I'm trying to do is much harder, I'm trying for actual flight. If I can out maneuver my enemies in the air then I can further compensate for my poor defense with a higher agility. The only type of opponent this won't work on is another person that can fly" he dropped himself to the ground as well.

"What do you want Urahara? Im busy right now, training doesn't happen by itself." Cain began his sword stances, he was experimenting with a quick draw technique that would allow him to both draw his sword and attack simultaneously. The only drawback was that as it was, he was far too slow to actually use it in combat.

Urahara pulled out a mask from behind him, and held it up to Cain, at the same time three strange people appeared behind Urahara, one looked like he was a ninja, another like an English gentleman except he had a weird color scheme, the third and shortest of the three was a blonde female that had what looked like a coat, except it wasn't a coat and it looked like a bird on her shoulders. "I have a little task for you. I even got you a mask." He showed Cain the fox mask, it was not very accurate but it was pure white and was drawn into a foxy grin. And while he was not the biggest fan of the color white, he had to admit that, with the fox grin on it, it looked really good. So he figured he might play along with Urahara, especially when the next thing walked up next to Urahara, it was a mod soul in a red fox toy, Cain was tempted to accept just based on that alone, he happened to like foxes, a fact that was totally unrelated to his own heritage. That was his story and he was sticking to it.

"What do you want from me Urahara, and if I say yes, do I get the mod soul?" the mod soul looked at Cain curiously, as if sizing him up.

"You're telling me I'm gonna be teaming up with him? Could be worse, I mean, I could be like that loser Kon. Talk about a waste of a mod soul, at least I am gonna have a use, what does he do exactly?" He walked over to Cain, "My name is Tengoku; you can call me Ten for short,"

"I was planning on giving him to ya anyways; he fit in with that whole fox motif ya got going there. as for what I want," he tossed the mask over to Cain, "there have been some strange readings lately, I want you to go find out what's causing them. That mod soul has a reishi sensor inside of it, plus I want you in your gigai for this, so yeah, you'll need a mod soul to get out of it anyways." He pulled out Cain's gigai from who knows where. "Here ya go."

"Well, I guess I could do that. I was getting bored, so where am I going?"

**At Karakura high school**

"I'm going to kill him, I am not going to let this one slide, almost getting me killed is one thing but sending me to Ichigo's school is another" Cain had been in the corner of Ichigo's classroom, the entire day underneath his favorite bakudo to date, #26 Kyokko he was sure that not even Uryu could sense him at the moment, and he was the best one at sensing people.. Urahara had threatened to sign him up at the school if he had refused to follow around Ichigo for the day and try to see if he went into his Shinigami form, and one day of intense boredom was better than being forced to go to high school.

He followed the four of them out of the classroom as they walked home, on the way Tengoku sensed something odd in a nearby construction site.

"I've got a lock on some weird reishi activity," Tengoku told Cain, "maybe you should go check it out, I sense the other mod souls have a different task at the moment, it is almost like Urahara is testing Ichigo for some reason. Also, it seems that Yoruichi and someone else have entered the world of the living. From the person's reiryoku signature I'm guessing it's a captain."

Cain had a hunch who the captain was, and he did NOT want to be stung today, he instead flashed over to the construction site, he took the pill out of Tengoku's toy body and swallowed it. His soul form pushed out of his Gigai and took shape, while Tengoku fulfilled his purpose and took over the function of the body, "take the body and leave, I can take it from here.

He walked cautiously, the beams that he walked under were casting shadows everywhere, the night time atmosphere was giving the whole scene an eerie feel to it. He had **Onmyouji **drawn and at the ready, his left hand ready to awaken his hollow blood, the glove already on his hand, just waiting for the right command. He saw someone in the darkness, it appeared to be feeding on a plus, the un departed spirit of a human being that was unable to go to either the soul society or to hell. He tried to sneak up on the man, only to be attacked by several flying metal balls.

"Why do you interrupt my meal young one?" the balls that had attacked Cain were flying around the man, implying that he had control over their movements. Although Cain suspected that this was not in fact the case.

"It looks to me that you were eating that plus, care to tell me why," Cain raised **Onmyouji ** into a ready stance, "I really cant let you keep doing this, the dead deserve their rest ya know." He flashed forward only to be met with a metal bar in his stomach, behind the muscular man appeared what looked like a sentient metal ball, it was just floating there next to the man, as if waiting for instructions.

"We all must eat, otherwise we die, is that so odd a concept to you kid?" the ball bearings seemed to multiply further.

"well, I guess you'd be the one that's been making all those weird readings then, I've got a surprise though." Cain waited for the man to register the comment that he made before finishing. "I'm going to leave, bye!" he didn't even give the man time to react before he was gone, leaving a shimmering after image confusing him.

**At the Urahara shop**

"They are called bount." Urahara explained to those gathered around his table, everyone with the exception of the captain that had visited earlier that day, Yoruichi was there, in human form this time, and if that wasn't noteworthy enough, Urahara looked serious, that was worth mentioning even of itself. After hearing both the result of Yoruichi's investigation, and that of Cain's he had come to the irrefutable conclusion that this is what they were in for. "the Bount are like the Quincy in the fact that they are humans that have developed powers of their own. However, unlike the Quincy that destroyed the hollows and brought about their own destruction that way but still live, grow old and die like humans do, the bount are different. They were never populous and there are even now only a handful of bount left, the key difference between the Bount and the Quincy is that bount, by devouring human souls, are able to live forever. Growing as they do. I can only guess as to what they are doing here I do know that they are most likely to go after you three," he pointed at Ichigo, Orihime and Chad, he skipped over Cain due to him not really being human after all. "to that end I have given you three each a mod soul, Ririn, you will go with ichigo," he pointed at the only female mod soul in the room, "Cloud you will go with Orihime," he motioned to the English gentleman looking mod soul, "and Nova you will go with Chad" he pointed at the ninja looking mod soul.

"What about me?" inquired Uryu, thinking he already knew the answer.

"As I just stated Uryu, the Bounts are most likely to go after the ones with the highest reiatsu signatures, and you lost yours in the soul society, fighting one of the captains I believe."

Cain was lost in thought; he was more concerned with what these Bounts were planning than what they actually were. After all, nothing was more dangerous than an unknown.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Day thirteen of my self -imposed challenge and to be honest I am having a blast writing for you guys, but please please review. I have no way of knowing what I am doing right or wrong otherwise. Anyways I hope you enjoy. **

Cain looked out across karakura town; he liked doing things like this whenever he could. It was probably the vantage point that he enjoyed the most. From his position above city from he could see almost everything there was to see, Tengoku was on his shoulder. It was only logical, besides, Cain couldn't sense the very small reishi signatures that were given off whenever the Bount fed. It was the best solution, Cain got to be up high where he likes to be, and Tengoku got a vantage point, so it was a win-win scenario. He knew that there was most likely going to be some kind of altercation that night, anytime Ichigo was involved things tended to get out of hand rather quickly.

"Can you sense anything?" Cain asked Tengoku, the chances of him sensing things were elevated due to their elevation, and there were no buildings to mess up with their range.

"I have two possible signatures in two different sections of the city," was the response he received, "Ichigo is in pursuit of one of them. The other one is being investigated by Orihime and Chad, do you want to investigate yourself?"

"I think we should Ten," Cain stood up, stretching out his legs and walking in the air towards where Tengoku had motioned, "Whenever Ichigo is involved things tend to get out of hand." He flashed forward, not at top speed, but at a decent clip, if anyone with the sufficient spiritual awareness had looked up it would have seemed like a white bat was rushing through the sky, as it was he was sure nobody could see him. "Trust me on this one, he's going to be either half dead when we get there or taking on an opponent he has no idea how to beat."

"Why not go after the one that is closer to Orihime and Chad?" the inquisitive voice of Tengoku mused aloud, "aren't they weaker than this Ichigo guy?"

"That is precisely why I am going to the one that Ichigo is chasing," Cain explained on the way, they were about three quarters of the way there, and Cain could see the glow from what looked like a fire, "They won't get into a fight on purpose because they are weak, they know that they can be beaten. Ichigo on the other hand is much more likely to go pick a fight."

As he approached, he noticed that Ichigo was in quite the bind. He was trapped by fallen rubble, with a fire creature looking like it was about to kill him. As it launched its attack Cain flashed himself down to the ground and drew his **Sokyoku** thinking that, as a fire type Zanpakuto it might fare better against a flame attack. It did not disappoint, as Cain slashed forward the zanpakuto met the ball of fire and it exploded. The ball of fire, instead of just exploding everywhere at once, exploded back towards its point of origin, but died out halfway there. the residual flames making the whole area glow that orange hue.

"When are you gonna learn Ichigo?" Cain asked the trapped Shinigami substitute, "Sooner or later that charge in and screw the consequences attitude of yours is going to get you killed." He saw the person across the lot; it was a woman with brown hair, dressed in brown as well. the clothing looked functional and like it wouldn't cause any problems in combat. Not that it looked like she would need to do anything with that humanoid fire being in front of her.

"So…let me guess, you are one of his friends then?" asked the lady, "Goethe, dispose of him as well, we don't have much time." The being, Goethe, Cain supposed, responded.

"Very well," and began to bombard Cain and Ichigo with fire, one of the shots was about to hit Ichigo when a lightning bolt came down from the sky, exploding and revealing a very irate Rukia.

"Have you gotten…"

"Already asked it Rukia, you're kinda behind the ball on that one. On a side note did you have to make such a flashy entrance?" Cain said to the Shinigami, still both deflecting fireballs and dodging them. He was a bit disappointed that she hadn't just gone for the bount and tried to stop this whole ordeal in the first place, but maybe that was just him.

"Are you really going to lecture me about being flashy? Last time I checked the last major entrance you made involved stealing the Sokyoku! Not to mention that stunt you pulled with Ichimaru. Talk about bad decisions." She yelled back at him, annoyed that he had to comment on her choice of entrance.

"More Goethe destroy them!" shouted the woman, a bit annoyed that she was being ignored in the exchange. Goethe rose up into the air and the flames he was outputting just about tripled. A ball of fire five times larger than the previous one gathered in between its hands.

As it grew so did the look of worry on Rukia's face, "I can't block that, can you?" she glanced at Cain, who bit the inside of his lip while he thought.

"Sure, but how to do it, I can't just use one kido on something of that size, we would be fine, but there would be civilian casualties." He stretched out both of his hands, and drew his **Onmyouji **with his left hand, crossing his swords together, there wasn't enough time to wake his hollow blood up, and unlike usual he hadn't woken it up before going into battle, he wasn't going to make that mistake again anytime soon.

However it seemed like that particular plan of action was not going to be required as a large group of snakes popped out of nowhere and surrounded Goethe, causing it to vanish into thin air, the snakes themselves turned back into pipes, crashing into the ground.

"Ryo." Exclaimed the woman, bringing attention to a well-dressed man with a snake coiled around his shoulders.

"Ms. Yoshino," came the response of the man, Ryo, "Roaming around without permission?"

"Are you a bount to?" Ichigo demanded to know, "What was all that about." Cain pinched the bridge of his nose, he couldn't believe the impatience that ichigo was capable of, seriously sometimes he wondered if he ever though things through.

"You know, food doesn't talk." Came the response of Ryo, annoyed with the interference of Ichigo. The snake on his shoulder slithered down his body and started to move to the woman, now identified as Yoshino. Who in response brought what looked like a metal finger covering to a bracelet on her right wrist. It looked like she was going to fight with the man. "I guess I have no choice then. Friede!"

At Ryo's command the snake wound its way up Yoshino binding her hands together and looking her in the eyes, its head reared back and ready to strike at the slightest provocation. "You will not disobey," came the voice of what Cain could only assume to be Friede the snake tightened its grip on Yoshino's wrists, causing her some pain and discomfort.

"You'd better not fight it." Ryo condescendingly told Yoshino, "My doll, Friede is a bit short tempered you see."

"So…they are called dolls then?" Cain inquired, and got one of the pipe snakes thrown at him for his trouble, which he just sliced in half anyways, but it was the principle of the thing that really annoyed him.

"if you'll excuse us then, after all, nobility and pigs don't share the same table." He called his Doll to him, leaping onto the roof, the snake; still binding Yoshino followed him, no doubt causing the poor woman no small degree of pain and discomfort.

"So, they ran away huh?" Cain sighed, "Typical, I finally get the chance to get some answers and I don't get to verify them. Ten!" Cain called out to the fox that he had left on the roof of one of the buildings surrounding them, fortunately a different building than the one that the new bount had escaped onto. "Did you get a fix on his signature?"

"You are really going to question me on that, of course I got the signature!" he hopped down onto Cain's shoulder, "Are you sure you want to follow this guy without knowing where he is going?" Cain leapt up onto the roof of the same building that he had seen Ryo jump onto.

"Yep..." he looked at Ichigo and Rukia, "You two go back to Urahara and tell him I'm tracking one of the Bounts back to what I hope is their hideout. I'll try to be back before dawn. Have fun catching up you two"

Cain followed Tengoku's reishi sensor to a mansion on the outskirts of karakura town, it looked like an impressive place to live, a little ostentatious for his tastes but hey, everyone had their own preferences. He stopped just short of entering the property, and brought his left hand to his right shoulder, "**Despierta, Kyoka"**

He woke up his dormant hollow blood, assuming once more his much more vulpine appearance, his nine tails as pristine as ever, thanks to the work of the fourth division captain. "Ten, I want you to stay out here, I have a feeling that I'm going to be doing something really stupid and am going to be rushing out of here in a hurry, I'm not going to try and start a fight but if one starts I don't want to risk you getting in my way, sorry." He drew **Onmyouji** and released it into shikai, the Spell tags taking their position above and behind his head. He had a feeling that he wanted to keep his options open as the night went on. He surrounded himself with Bakudo#26 and jumped the fence. His presence vanishing as he did so.

He walked quickly but quietly, just because he couldn't be seen or sensed he didn't want to take any chances. Kyokko wasn't meant to be a moving spell so he had to be extra careful when he used it this way. It wouldn't be prudent to get caught before he wanted to. He saw what looked like soldiers made of shadows patrolling around the entire grounds, and he had a bad feeling that if he encountered one that it would set off some kind of alarm.

As he approached the mansion proper he could sense someone that should not really be inside of a bount fortress. For some unfathomable reason it seemed that the bount had kidnapped Uryu Ishida. He seemed to be inside an isolated part of the compound, together with another person, most likely it was the Yoshino person he had met earlier that night.

"Well, I guess this is going to be a bit trickier than I had initially thought." He muttered aloud, processing the information, "I am really going to regret this." He snuck into the compound proper; on his way in he saw what looked like a Shinigami reading a book, he was talking to the man that he had met the previous day. The man was telling him to go and secure the perimeter. Apparently they were expecting something to happen, well, they weren't that far off, but it wasn't going to start outside the mansion. What he wasn't expecting however was how easily that he had been walking through the mansion. It was a good thing he was good at layouts and the like otherwise he would be useless when the time came to attack the mansion. And anyways it wasn't like he couldn't just infiltrate it again if he needed to.

He walked himself over to the prison section of the prison and dropped his concealment. "Uryu Ishida," he began, "You are the absolute last person I expected to get caught. Then again these bount seem to be a bit more organized. Anyways how about I help the two of you escape."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that reads this. Please remember to review, please. I really do read those and will try to respond to them. To those that have reviewed, thank you all for your suggestions and for telling me what you think. Anyways, on with the show. **

Cain could hear the sounds of conflict throughout the mansion; apparently he wasn't the only one who had tracked down the Bounts to their hideout. Not that it was much of a hideout anyways; when you buy a mansion isn't the whole point of it to be obvious. That was beside the point however. The main point was that he was still waiting for a response from Uryu and Yoshino. Sure he had anticipated a little bit of shock, some fox looking guy randomly pops out of thin air and offers to break you out of prison, who wouldn't be suspicious.

"Um…how'd you find us so fast?" came the question from Uryu, "We haven't even been in here an hour yet." He walked up to the bars, looking at Cain it wasn't the first time he had seen him like this but it was still a shock.

"Well, to be honest I had absolutely no idea you were here as well Uryu. I was initially not going to reveal myself, but then I saw that they had locked you two up. And I really couldn't let a lady remain in such confinement. In other words, I had a hunch Ichigo would take forever and so I took the lead. It didn't take him so long then." He drew one of his swords and cut the bars. Then he blasted a hole in the wall using Hado #1. "Go on ahead and get yourselves to Urahara's shop. I'm going to go help out Ichigo. He is probably in far too deep at the moment." Cain waited for the two of them to be far enough away that he couldn't sense them anymore, which, considering the density of the surrounding forest was probably just to the edge of the surrounding property. Then he turned towards where he sensed Ichigo and another Shinigami fighting. "Nothing is ever easy around here is it. Well, I have a few things I want to try out anyways."

He walked through the mansion back to the entrance at a leisurely pace, he could sense that all of the other presences in the mansion were at the entrance as well. He walked up next to one of the Bounts, so completely focused on the fight were they that they didn't even register him. He saw Ichigo fighting the Shinigami when suddenly a man with silver hair parted in a way so that it looked like two flat spikes on either side of his head interrupt. The result was Ichigo getting rag dolled around the room like he was not even worthy of fighting the silver haired man. Cain had seen enough to know that Ichigo was, as suspected, in deep trouble. He flashed himself down, **Sokyoku **coming out of its sheath on his way down, causing the silver haired man to dodge the incoming blow.

"Wow Ichigo," Cain sighed, "You really are rusty after all, this guy isn't even as strong as Byakuya and you can't even cut him." He raised his hand towards the man and bowed arm bent at the waist in a real grandiose fashion. "I am guessing I am speaking to the guy in charge so I guess I will introduce myself, my name is Cain Zephyrs." He straightened himself up and pointed his Zanpakuto at the man, "I thought I heard one of your subordinates say the name Kariya, is that your name?"

"Interesting, your soul is much more interesting than that one's, so I shall give you the same offer. Come and join us, for eternity, your soul will meld with mine and become something far greater." He looked like he honestly believed what he was saying, which in and of itself was impressive. But he really needed a reality check, one that Cain was more than willing to provide for him.

"Sorry, old guy, but why would I join you when my side is obviously going to win." He flashed himself behind Kariya, his left hand drawn back for a punch, as he made contact with the barrier around the bount he smirked, "And this is why" he released his reiatsu through his fist the concussive force blowing the bount leader into the same wall he had sent Ichigo into previously. He shook his hand, whatever that barrier was made of, it was tough stuff, and he had hurt his hand punching it.

Just as Kariya was pulling himself out of the crater that he had been punched into a blast went off right in front of the mansion. Apparently Urahara's helpers had made their way to the mansion as well. Taking full advantage of the confusion brought about by the rockets, Cain picked up the not fully conscious Ichigo and got out of the mansion before anyone else could stop him. On his way out of the mansion's grounds he picked up Tengoku and kept going.

He was about halfway to Urahara's shop when Ichigo was able to stand on his own again, he had taken a serious beating at the hands of that Shinigami, he really was outclassed without his bankai, which was a pain. "When are you going to learn to pick your fights?"

They arrived at Urahara's shop and Ichigo immediately went into sulking mode. Cain on the other hand decided to go to the source of the whole issue, Yoshino. Upon inspection however, she was revealed to not be in her room after all, in fact neither Uryu nor Yoshino were in their assigned rooms. "Why must I deal with such idiots?" Cain growled in frustration. Fortunately for him however, they were just on the roof, not running back to the mansion just yet. However Cain knew it was only a matter of time. He had Tengoku check the perimeter to make certain nothing was amiss before he went down into the basement, on the way he saw Ichigo and Renji down there as well, he didn't want to get mixed up in their training however, he had his own way of doing things. He went into his cave and pulled out some books on kido, he was trying to get even more proficient in the art so that he could use hado and bakudo simultaneously but progress was slow. So he lay down and closed his eyes trying to get some sleep before the next batch of crazy things happened.

Cain woke up the next morning to a rather unpleasant sight. Sometime during the previous evening somebody had decided to blow holes into his cave. How he had slept through such a thing was beyond him but that was beside the point. He could clearly sense two signatures leaving Urahara's shop; it was obvious to him that they were none other than the two that had just escaped from the Bounts that previous day. For some reason he could not fathom, both Yoshino and Uryu were on their way back to the bount mansion. Sighing heavily he knew that the right thing to do would be to follow the two and try to prevent anything from happening to them. as he left the cave he saw a note addressed to him, he picked it up and read the contents, it was from Yoshino telling him that she was going to try and kill Kariya and not to interfere, it also said that the reason she had left him the note and not anyone else was that he seemed like the smartest one there.

He flashed towards the entrance of the store, blatantly disregarding the note, "If you think that I won't do something just because im told not to then you have another thing coming little miss Bount, I'm not going to let somebody just throw away their life just because they think they can beat somebody."

He grabbed his zanpakuto and Tengoku on his way out, not bothering to warn anyone else, in fact it seemed like he was a bit behind everyone, and he couldn't sense Ichigo or Renji anywhere in the store. He rushed out of the store and was halfway to the bount mansion when he saw what looked like an on fire Yoshino fighting Kariya they were both in the sky, flying, that was supposed to be his idea dammit.

He got there just in time to catch Yoshino's falling body; her abdomen had been pierced by what looked like Kariya's hand. As he placed down her body he saw Uryu behind one of the pillars, he was shocked. He stood up, and glared at Kariya, he looked like he had just won the lottery, a seal beneath his feet glowing, and producing fly like creatures that swarmed around them. Cain jumped up, getting level with Kariya.

"You've done it this time Kariya, I was going to let Ichigo take care of you and your little charade, but now you've gone and killed somebody close to an acquaintance of mine and I really don't like seeing people even somewhat close to me sad." Cain drew his hand over his right shoulder "**Despierta Kyoka!" **his hollow blood woke up giving him his more vulpine appearance, he wondered if he should just stay like that all the time, but if he did he knew he wouldn't get any better. He raised his hand to Kariya, "Chew on this, **Hado #63 Raikōhō!" ** a huge wave of yellow energy flew at Kariya, burning the fly like creatures in its way, unfortunately for him Kariya had disappeared in the confusion of the Hado, how exactly he had done so still confused him, but one thing was certain, he was going to be much more trouble in the near future.

He watched at the swarm of fly creatures, he thought he heard someone say Bitto, disperse and fly around the city. As he saw the Bitto disappear into the city he cursed himself, whenever something big like this happened he could never seem to do anything right. In practice he was great but whenever something happened in the real world it seemed like all he was good for was sneaking around behind the scenes. Well he wasn't going to stand for that anymore. He was not going to just stand by and wait as Bitto went around and sucked the souls out of everyone in the city. He instead, followed them; he himself vanished into the city as he hunted down the Bitto.

He had been slaughtering them as he found them, not missing a single one, he saw the stealth force chasing the Bitto trying to capture them, but he saw that he missed one. Instead of killing it however, he followed it to a cave, it seemed like he had followed it to the Bount's new hideout.

He saw Kariya open a Bitto and extract a vial from inside of it, then drink the contents. In an impressive display Kariya seemed to multiply in power, going from its previous impressive to at least a captain level in just a few seconds. That seemed to be the entire purpose of the Bitto, to harvest and refine souls so that Kariya and the other Bounts could benefit from their power. He also saw something that looked a lot like Urahara's senkaimon. What was worse was that it seemed like it was almost complete.

"Damn, they really are trying to do something crazy." He flashed himself closer, still ticked off at Kariya, but, he also realized that he needed to wait for the best time to strike in order to cause whatever plan the Bount leader was truly up to. He started to flash himself back to Urahara's shop when he thought of something. Uryu would probably want vengeance against the bount himself, so he should probably stick close to him and see where things went from there. the absolute worst that could happen would be that they actually manage to get into soul society. And in that event the captains would be the ones best ones to handle the situation.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Before anything, I want to thank the guest who reviewed not one chapter but four of them, not only them but everyone reading this is giving me the ability to do this every night. Now, I am taking a one day break tomorrow. But then I will be back until I start school. Afterwards I will be posting only once a week. Anyways please review, they really do help.**

Cain was getting sick and tired of waiting. He had long since reported the location of the Bount's hideout to Urahara but the man refused to do anything with the information. It was like he wanted to waste as much time as possible before doing something. It wasn't like he hadn't already made contingency plans for this exact thing happening. Urahara had to have some plan already in place that he just wasn't seeing at the moment. And that was what was annoying him the most, that Urahara was going all 'I know things but I won't tell you anything'. To be honest the only good thing about the last few days was that he had been able to train against both Ichigo and Renji. It was good to blow off some steam.

He wasn't going to tell Ichigo the location of the cave by himself until he was sure he wouldn't just rush in there haphazardly. So, never really, but if he by some chance found it by himself you could bet that Cain would be right there with him, no doubt saving his skin once again. Not that he minded or anything, it was just that saving Ichigo whenever he got into trouble seemed to be more and more of a full time job rather than a hobby. At least he finally had the time to talk to his zanpakuto, both of them, as well as Kyoka. He was sure that, when the time came this time around it wouldn't be him that was just lying on the ground bleeding out. He was sure of it. The Bounts, even with their own powers were not going to be prepared for what was coming at them.

Ichigo alone, once he had the reason for his bankai problem fixed would be more than enough to face down Kariya, and none of the other Bounts would have the raw power they would need to take himself down. Sure they might have their own little tricks to whatever Doll they had, but to be honest tricks just didn't work for him. He knew this sounded awfully hypocritical of him to think but there was just something about pitting your strength against an opponent's that made it a real fight. He hadn't had a real fight in the soul society the last time he was there so he really wanted one now and the only way he was going to get it was with the Bounts.

He had to be certain that he was strong enough to take on whatever kind of forces that Aizen had coming down the line and the best way to test something out has always been to field test it. He had not been idle the past few days; he had been in almost constant Jinzen whenever he was not already training with Ichigo and Renji. And he had found out some interesting things from his Spirits. He would be ready whenever the time came, and he would finally be able to be of more than a miniscule amount of help.

He could still tell that everyone was tense; everyone seemed to be just as eager as he was to track down the Bounts. And he was halfway tempted to just get it over with and tell them where the enemy hideout was. But he knew that Urahara would most likely take that the wrong way. He could almost feel the time crawling along at a snail's pace, each second that they wasted was another soul that was absorbed by the bount. Unfortunately he was currently forbidden from leaving the store by Urahara after his last stunt. He really had to get a place of his own. He had been saving up his hollow killing money as well as what he made from helping out at the store. He was planning on doing something, he just had no idea what, and he was sure that whatever he did, it would include a training area like this one. He was sure that he wouldn't do anything however, until he had a better reason to leave, to be honest he liked his cave; it was comfortable and didn't let in the almost perpetual day that was in the training ground. The stone walls that surrounded his bed seemed comforting rather than confining, not to mention it had natural insulation, not that he needed it in what was essentially Urahara's basement.

He felt someone enter the training area, judging by their reiatsu it was none other than Urahara, most likely because he had just sent Ichigo off to do something incredibly stupid. And that probably meant fighting the bount leader without his bankai or some such. And that meant it was about time for Urahara to send in reinforcements, which in this case meant him. Seriously he had to get his own place. Not to mention all of the new holes in his cave that had been added in the last week.

He felt Urahara climb down the ladder, a curious action for someone that could just jump down, but then again, nothing about Urahara was normal. In fact, Urahara had probably kidnapped normal a long time ago and performed unspeakable experiments on it in order to discern the inner workings of it. But then again when you were as old as Urahara, things probably got boring really fast. So it wasn't lie he could blame the guy for seeking something to make his life more interesting.

"Cain are you down here?" Urahara's infuriatingly coy voice called

"You know I am, why do you ask that if you already know where I am." Cain exited his cave, fully ready for combat, his Hollow blood fully awakened and his two zanpakuto strapped to his waist. The sword that contained the spirit of the **Sokyoku** had changed places, now resting on his left hip instead of his right. **Onmyouji** was on his right hip where it could be drawn just as fast, but in his non dominant hand.

"If I don't then I don't get the satisfaction of getting you all riled up. Now, I assume you know that I sent Ichigo and the gang ahead already, and judging by the way you look you are about to chase after them, well, I'm not going to stop ya, just leave the leader to Ichigo, and if somehow they manage to get themselves into the soul society try and not make too big a splash. Oh yeah, and don't run into the captain commander, word is he wants to kill you himself."

"Got it, Stop the Bounts and make as big a splash as I can." Cain replied, just about completely ignoring everything Urahara said, except the part about the captain commander, he wasn't that much of a thrill seeker. He watched Urahara's eye twitch before he flashed away from the shopkeeper. Life really was about the little things, like revenge on annoying shopkeepers that keep people waiting for information that is already out of date.

As he flashed towards the Bount's cave he thought that he sensed a lieutenant near Uryu, but he shrugged it off as nothing, besides if he left it alone something fun was bound to happen. In fact it would be more accurate to say that he was ignoring it to ensure that something would happen. That being said he continued on his way to the cave. When he entered the cave he saw Renji in a fierce battle with what looked like a grey monster, but it turned out to be under control.

When he arrived in the main chamber he bore witness to one of the stupidest stunts he had ever seen. And it was not done by Ichigo, Uryu Ishida had just provided the Bounts with their ticket into soul society, for the reason of killing Kariya there instead of in the dimension they were already in. This was one of those situations where common sense must have taken a vacation. Uryu didn't even look like he had regained his powers, only a pale shadow, he could tell that the bow like contraption on his arm was doing almost all the work. It was gathering the reishi for Uryu to then mold. Not that he wouldn't have done something of the same sort of stupid if someone he loved got killed.

He entered the cavern, it looked like someone had done a number on it, but it also looked like Ichigo had solved his Bankai problem. There were two soul reapers there that he was unfamiliar with, one had a 69 tattooed on his face and the other had a rather…interesting appearance. That was all he was going to say. Anyways it looked like they were in fact going to the soul society, he knew that if he left everything alone something fun would happen.

"Hey Cain," Yoruichi called him over to where she was standing, for once it looked like everyone was on the same boat, "These guys are going to soul society to help Uryu avenge Yoshino's death, why are you here?" she looked at him quizzically, Urahara had told her that he wasn't going to let Cain out of the basement until this whole thing was done and over with, obviously that plan had changed.

"I wanted in and Urahara didn't want his store destroyed from the basement up." He deadpanned, causing Yoruichi to look at him in shock. "I'm kidding of course, I wanted to help out Uryu. I didn't know he'd get some of his powers back so I figured on killing this Kariya guy myself. But since he got some of his powers back I guess I'll tag along and see what mischief I can get in instead. Maybe I can help out the others. Or maybe I can fight one of those Bounts myself, who knows."

Yoruichi was, tentative at letting him go, but she couldn't come up with an excuse to make him not go. Besides, it wasn't like he could get into so much trouble that he wouldn't be able to go back, and besides he had already proved that if nothing else he could get away from any captain he encountered. If somebody could get away from Soi Feng then he could probably get away from anyone. And anyone who could do that without getting seriously injured was ok in her book.

"just don't get killed in there, not that I think you will." They walked towards the senkaimon in unison, "Ok our mission is to annihilate the Bounts. Are we all clear on that, does everyone understand? This is going to be a quick mission." She marched towards the senkaimon, power in her steps and activated it.

Uryu fired another quincy arrow into it and turned it into a spirit exchanger, thus providing those of them who were not already in a soul form a way into the soul society. They jumped in and the next thing they knew they were in, the Seireitei theirs for the saving or for the taking. "I missed this place, I never got to fight here before and now I get to have all the fights that I can with these Bounts. Im going to let loose for the first time, and this time im going to be able to get it right I even have a new ability for these people."

He flashed himself towards the buildings that he suspected housed the Bounts. All he really had to do was follow the patches of decaying buildings, a side effect of the Bount's ability to absorb reishi from the surrounding areas. He had already split up from the main group that had entered the soul society, much, as he imagined, to the chagrin of Yoruichi. Urahara had told him not to make any big waves when he arrived in the soul society because of the way he had parted ways with the captain commander, however, he wasn't going to get anything done if he listened to that. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation, this was finally getting interesting.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I am ending the bount arc. I don't like writing it and my writing I feel is suffering because of it. Thanks to Xx13deathsxX for reviewing the last chapter and for taking the oc submission request seriously, I am going to start using his Oc in the story earlier than I had originally wanted to use oc's because of such. it's just my way of saying thanks. And speaking of thanks I would like to thank everyone that has taken the time to read this. Please remember to review, it helps motivate me like you wouldn't believe.**

Cain was patrolling around the Rukongai, he had forgotten to bring Tengoku with him when he had left Urahara's shop and it was coming back to haunt him. Fortunately however he was still able to sense everyone that had come through the portal; he was also keeping tabs on the other Shinigami he felt in the Rukongai. It was handy being able to sense things, this way it was harder to be snuck up on. He could feel Rukia's reiatsu flaring, obviously fighting someone, but on the other hand he could also sense that Byakuya was already well on his way over to the scene. And he knew that, whatever the captain said, that he took the welfare of his little sister very seriously. Cain was going to keep clear of that particular person, plus the guy would probably kill him just for being half hollow, plus he had essentially stolen the Sokyoku and he was pretty sure that was frowned upon.

On the other hand Rukia's reiatsu was fading rapidly, and he knew he couldn't just sit around doing nothing, so he rushed over to where he sensed Rukia's reiatsu. She was fighting a woman who was armed with a sword and a fan connected by a chain. The sword end was currently imbedded into Rukia' left leg even if he had wanted to wait he wouldn't have. He could tell Byakuya was nearby but he didn't think that the captain would make it in time. He saw Rukia get kicked up into the air, the woman following her into the air, sword posed to take the life of the Shinigami.

"**Bakudo #61 Rikujokoro!" **the bount was bond in the air just before the sword would have fallen, Cain flashed himself to where Rukia was, and caught her obviously exhausted body, he saw the many petals of **Senbonzakura** surround the Bount woman only seconds later, the bount woman fell from her high altitude into the rooftops below her. He felt the cold steel of the sixth squad's captain against his neck, "well hello to you as well," Cain pushed against the sword with his left hand, "No need to thank me or anything, I just saved your sister's life is all," Cain flashed away from the captain, using the space between himself and the sword's edge as an escape route.

"I didn't come to kill you," the icy tone of Byakuya replied, "I was merely given an order to bring you before the captain commander, he wishes to test you," he glared at the hybrid in front of him, "It is a rare honor that you have been given, the captain commander does not usually go back on any of his decisions." Cain noticed that, despite his icy tone and stone face, that Byakuya had been casting discrete glances towards the body of his adopted little sister.

The two of them left when Ichigo, accompanied by Orihime arrived on the scene, the latter of the two already producing her healing ability for the injured. Cain followed the Sixth division captain to a large building near the center of the Seireitei, the building literally had a giant number one on it so it wasn't that hard to find. As he approached the division barracks he sensed an absolutely monstrous reiatsu inside of it.

"The captain awaits you inside, I advise you to not keep him waiting, and he is already impatient with you as is." Byakuya took off in the direction of the forest leaving Cain in front of the massive doors of the first division. He opened them and was greeted by the sight of a magnificently large training ground right inside the doors. Waiting for him on the far side of the empty space was the captain commander himself dressed in his shihakusho, having chosen not to wear his captain's Haori to the training ground.

"I'm here, as you requested." Cain didn't trust this; he was staying as far away from the captain commander as he could without actually running away from him. "What do you want from me? I already told you that I am not giving the Sokyoku back to you, ever."

"I already knew that Cain Zephyrs, I would not have called you here if that was my intention." The immensely old Shinigami stared down the Hybrid, his brows furrowed, "I believe Captain Kuchiki has already told you of my intentions," he drew his Zanpakuto, "Instead of simply killing you, I will test your worthiness to bear it." The captain's reiatsu skyrocketed, "Do not be deceived however; if you let down your guard then you will die. Now, show me your power!" he shed the top half of his shihakusho and straightened up, the old man image thoroughly vanishing as he took on the much more fitting image of what he truly was. A thousand year old Shinigami that had been through hell and back and lived to tell the tale, scars crisscrossed his torso and his reiatsu felt like it was on fire.

Cain could feel the overwhelming power radiating from the captain commander, "May I ask for your name first, it doesn't feel right if I do not." Cain drew both of his own Zanpakuto, **Onmyouji **in his left hand, and the sword that represented the **Sokyoku **in his right, he held them in a defensive position.

"I am Captain of the First division Genryusai Yamamoto," He responded, surprised at Cain's strange sense of honor, he had just figured that he would rush him, then again, he would never have obtained the Sokyoku in the first place if he didn't have at least some kind of honor, it was a little known trait among fire type zanpakuto that their wielders had their own strange sense of honor and justice.

Cain nodded to him, not that he had any control of the situation, rather as an acknowledgement of the captain's power as well as thanks for indulging him in his little request. "Ok then, I'm guessing you don't want me to hold back anything at all then, so I'll just start by releasing both of my zanpakuto. **Bind the demons! Onmyouji!"** the zanpakuto in his left hand turned into a dagger, the blade covered in spell formulae, and in the cross guard of the hilt was embedded a pitch black stone, Obsidian, it was a new feature to the shikai and made it feel menacing. Also missing were the spell tags that had been a hallmark of his shikai up until now. He brought his other Zanpakuto up to his face and held it horizontally the edge catching the light of the sun and appeared to be dancing with flames, "I haven't had an opportunity to use him yet, but he tells me that he wants to fight with you and who am I to say no, **Rise from the Ashes Kikōō!" **

Flames erupted from the blade, covering Cain's own form in an orb of heat and fire. The temperature around him started to rise as time went on, and although the captain commander seemed immune to it, anyone else would have been at least a bit uncomfortable. The orb began to shrink in size, the visibility getting better as they did so. As the orb opened to reveal Cain, the remaining flames coalesced on his back, creating wings of flame; the sword itself had changed from a Japanese style katana shape into a more European style single handed sword. The guard had become a pair of uplifted wings and the blade seemed to glow with an inner flame itself.

Cain charged the captain commander, sword pointed straight at him, his wings propelling him forwards like a shot out of a rifle. His sword came into contact with the captain commander's, and an explosion blew him back a few feet, the flames not doing any noticeable damage to the man, but the concussive force behind it being the driving force behind Yamamoto's movement. Cain wasn't done yet, he was going to prove something to himself that day. He launched himself skywards and pointed the dagger at the captain commander, "**Bakudo # 62 Hyapporankan" **blue rods flew at the captain commander, sticking to him and obviously causing discomfort to the man, Cain continued, "**Bakudo # 61 Rikujōkōrō, Bakudo #63 Sajo Sabaku" **chains followed by a rectangular bar of light flew from the tip of **Onmyouji** further restricting the movements of the captain commander, the obsidian in the dagger was slowly changing colors, going from the black of obsidian to a more white opal color.

"Hm…" Came a grunt from Yamamoto, "You certainly have power in spades, but do you have the conviction to use that power?" he broke the Bakudo like they were made of paper; he wasn't the Captain Commander for nothing.

Cain hung in the air pondering the question, before he laughed, "If I didn't have any convictions I wouldn't have saved Kikōō from being destroyed, I wouldn't be here to help out my friends and I certainly wouldn't have had courage to come here and face you down." He pointed Kikōō at the old man "and you ask me if I have conviction?"

Yamamoto looked at the hybrid as he hung in the sky, held aloft by the wings of flame from his shikai, the flames coming from him were new, compared to the flames of his own shikai which were old flames, powerful beyond measure but with no room for growth. Moreover he could feel the will behind the flames and in the spells that Cain had cast on him, and while the will behind it wasn't halfhearted he could also feel that his heart wasn't fully in the fight either. He waved the hybrid down from his position above him, and returning to the visage of the old leader instead of the experienced warrior. He had seen enough of Cain's abilities to make a judgment call on his usefulness.

"I have decided to let you go." Straight to the point with no wasted time, "However, I do not want you to remain in the soul society, you cause too much of a disturbance in the average Shinigami. Therefore," he motioned to a senkaimon in the courtyard, "I want you to return to the world of the living in preparation of Aizen's assault. You will be compensated monetarily for any assistance you provide our forces." He handed a scroll to Cain; it was marked for Urahara, "deliver this to Kisuke Urahara in the world of the living."

Cain nodded, he had had enough of this for one lifetime, if he never had to deal with an annoying diversion like this it would be too soon. As he walked through the senkaimon he realized that it had dropped him off in the bount cave hideout. Much to his displeasure, he thought the whole place smelled dank and moldy. He could however tell that he was not alone in the cave, at the far end of it stood a person.

He was an odd sort, he wore a black trench coat with the hood pulled up so the majority of his face wasn't visible, he wore a pair of dark green pants and shirt, he had a pair of black boots on. His hair, what he could see of it anyways, was black as well. The man looked up from where he was sitting near the exit and revealed his piercing green eyes, he had a piece of straw in his mouth and gave off an air of boredom.

"Who are you then?" Cain sighed to himself, he was tired of the whole thing by now, "Since I cant sense you I can only assume you are a bount…well it looks like you missed the show, all the others are in soul society, most likely getting themselves killed by the captains." The man looked at Cain with a bored look in his eyes.

"Oh, really? Well, I can't say I'm going to miss them, I was an outcast even among Bounts anyway," he pointed to his hair, "This used to be all green until I tried eating a hollow, then it turned this black color." He stood up and brushed himself off, getting rid of all the dust that had gathered on him and walked towards the exit. "Well, I might see ya around."

"Wait." Cain had an idea, it was brilliant, it would finally give him an excuse to leave urahara's shop and he would be able to prepare for Aizen at the same time, "You look like you have nowhere to go, why don't you join me, I'm starting an organization for people like us, those who have nowhere else to turn to." It was his best idea ever, if he did that he could help people who couldn't turn to the soul society for help, or those that the soul society hunted down for being different or potentially causing harm to the world of the living. "What's your name?"

The man turned towards Cain a smile on his face, "I don't really have one, but people call me Scarecrow, glad to meet ya boss!"

Cain felt like he was going to regret this latest decision.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/n: Thanks again to everyone who read the last chapter. Thanks especially to Xx13deathsxX and the anonomous guest for their reviews. In addition I would like to say that I am enjoying writing for you guys, seeing you all having read my work makes writing all the much more enjoyable. Thank you all.**

Cain awoke and sighed, he had finally gotten a place of his own and it looked like it had been abandoned for years. The upside of the whole situation was that it was in a less than desirable area of the Karakura town, and in fact the only place near enough to be considered a neighbor was an even older warehouse that everyone seemed to avoid. But it had a huge area for both living and a store, if he wanted to start one up, most likely Urahara would help him out, if for no other reason than as a side project.

However it was currently the only pace he could find to start up his organization. He had no idea what he was going to call it but he had decided what they would do. Even though right now it was just him and Crow he had decided that they would act as kind of a catch all for anyone with sufficiently high reiryoku that didn't have anywhere to go. There were too many things that the Gotei 13 was missing in the world of the living to be allowed to continue. Especially in karakura town, where a large amount of hollows seemed to keep coming, wasn't there anywhere else in the world that had so many attacks?

"Hey boss!" Scarecrow called from the first story, the bount had taken it upon himself to clean out the entire building and much to Cain's annoyance he insisted on calling him Boss. "You're going to want to check this out!"

Cain descended the stairs connecting the first and second floors, the first floor was bare, and looked really warehouse like, the second floor had a myriad of rooms for whoever wanted to live there, which was weird in and of itself, but then again he had been made aware of this building by Urahara, so it kind of made sense. The man didn't just have a few cards up his sleeve; he had an entire extra deck. What he saw when he got down to where Scarecrow waited for him he saw a wooden trapdoor note attached to it, it had a smiling picture of Urahara on it.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Do not call me boss. I don't even know why you call me that, it doesn't make any sense." Cain scratched his head, "So, what did our favorite shopkeeper leave for us here?" he then thought of something that he had assigned to Scarecrow as a kind of assignment, "Did you come up with a proper name yet? I am not just going to keep calling you Scarecrow."

"Yeah, sure thing boss! Just call me Crow," he smiled and gave Cain a thumbs up, a smile just barely visible underneath his hood and hair, as he once again completely ignored Cain's wishes. It was a kind of game between the two of them, If Cain snapped and tried to actually force Crow into submission then he would lose, and Cain hated to lose.

"Crow huh? Not very imaginative, but then again I don't really care about that. Nice to finally have a name to call you by." He opened the trapdoor, it led into his very own training grounds, and he was going to make the most of this fortunate event. In the corner of the training room he saw a white doll with a humanoid shape; he would have to ask Urahara about that particular present later when he had the time. However that would have to be put on hold.

He felt an immense power enter the world of the living, there were two individuals both with massive reiatsu signatures, and one seemed relatively massive but the other, the other one was truly monstrous. It was at the bare minimum as strong as he had felt from any captain he had encountered so far, barring the captain commander of course. "Crow, can you feel that?" he was straight to the point, whenever something like this happened things had always gone from bad to worse, and this time he had enough power under his belt to at least mitigate the catastrophe on the horizon.

"Sure can boss, it kinda feels a bit like you actually, but then again so do Shinigami so it's kind of hard to tell." He shrugged not really knowing what was going on "But I can tell that they are sucking the souls out of a large number of people. Are we going to go do something about this?"

"What do you think?" Cain retorted as he jumped out of the basement in a single bound, "we're not just going to let them do as they please, and we certainly have the ability to help at the very least." He started running towards where he felt the massive reiatsu signature, ,making sure that Crow could follow him at any given speed before upping his own. He was a firm believer in strength in numbers and while there were only two of them at the moment he had a gut feeling that it wouldn't be that way for long. He continued towards where he sensed the massive power and got there just in the nick of time.

He blocked a giant fist just as it was about to crush the immobile form of Orihime Inoue. "Well fancy meeting you here!" his gloved left hand holding the massive fist of the giant man captive, "and here I thought you were smarter than this." He drew Kikōō in a sweeping motion, severing the Giant's arm from the elbow down. The giant backed off, the loss of his arm enraging him, Cain, however tossed the severed arm towards where he saw Crow waiting, "Here, eat this. I have a feeling you'll need the extra power."

"Ulquiorra! Is this him?" the giant asked his companion.

"Pure white garb, nine distinct tails and two separate zanpakuto without a doubt Yammy this is one of our two targets." The answer came from the pale humanoid hollow behind the much larger Yammy.

"Cain!" Ichigo had finally arrived at the scene, in full bankai garb. "When did you get here?"

"Just in time to save Orihime, why were you so late? It can't just be the hollow I'm sensing in you, you're better than that. Anyways, if you get the big guy it'll give me time to get these people to safety." Cain turned his back and walked away, motioning Crow over to him, the arm had been eaten during the conflict.

"That was badass boss! Those guys are insanely powerful, just the arm alone tasted like hundreds of souls." He could absorb hollows just as easily as anything else and in fact they were his preferred source of food. "That alone would keep me going for at least another hundred years; unfortunately I'm guessing I am going to have to eat a lot more in the coming struggle."

Cain felt Ichigo's reiatsu fluctuate wildly, his inner hollow was acting up again, of that he was absolutely certain, "get these people to safety," he saw Ichigo getting beaten up by Yammy, the fight going insanely single sidedly. "I guess that I have other things that need doing." He went back to Ichigo's prone form, "I leave you alone for five seconds and you are a bloody mess, geez."

For the second time that day he was blocking the giant's fist. That was, until Urahara and Yoruichi decided to show up. "My, my it looks like Ichigo is having a rough time of it." He passed a bag to Yoruichi, "Why don't you take care of this one?"

"Excuse me, I do have this handled." His left hand was once again holding the giant man back without any visible effort, "Besides, I think his skin is a lot tougher than yours, let me do this, I have a theory that I need to test out." Cain flashed around the giant, the sudden loss of resistance against his fist causing him to lose balance, falling forwards; as he did so Cain reappeared behind the giant's head, leg sweeping in a crescent arc into the right side of it. His right foot met what felt like a strong, almost steel-like skin, however, he was not without his own protection, and his own skin was almost as hard as the giant's. His hypothesis proving correct after all, it must be an ability given to him from his hollow blood. He vented reiryoku through the contact point between his foot and the Arrancar's head and added to the destructive force of the kick.

As he landed he winced, his foot hurt like he had bashed it into a wall. However, it wouldn't be anything more than annoyance for a few minutes. "I'm glad you didn't do that Yoruichi, he had a really tough skin, I'm ok because of my own tough skin but if you had hit him the way you are, I think you would have fractured something." He shook out his foot, getting rid of the temporary pain, "Let me take this guy down. I'm just getting warmed up." His own reiatsu was nothing to sneeze at himself and this guy was way weaker than the head captain was, once he got through the skin the guy was actually pretty easy to cut up. Yoruichi and Urahara both looked shocked at the display of power, they knew that he was getting stronger every day but this was insane.

Yammy stood up, enraged at Cain's assault on him without the latter seeming to care about it; he was infuriated at the ease that the punk had cut off his arm. He charged up his reiatsu and opened his mouth wide, really dense reiatsu coalesced into his mouth, forming a red ball of death, a cero. Cain didn't have an answer for this latest trick, if given enough time he could probably replicate it and cancel it out, but he didn't have that time. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath before charging his own reiatsu, his hand palm out towards the Arrancar, his blue white reiatsu coursing into his palm, forming a ball of his own, however it destabilized, and the resulting explosion caused severe burns on Cain's left hand, the concussive force blowing him back and into, then through, a tree. Fortunately for him though Urahara was still nearby, and by the time Cain had gotten back to the clearing Urahara had already taken care of the cero.

"Dammit, I thought I had it but it destabilized on me," Cain looked at his hand, it was already healing itself. He looked at the crater that had resulted in the clashing of the two energy attacks, one from Urahara and one from Yammy; it was without a doubt an impressive crater. Ulquiorra looked at the gathering before him, arrayed before him were Cain, Urahara and Yoruichi, and while he was certain he would be able to annihilate Cain by himself, he wasn't about to risk taking on all three of them at that point in time.

"Yammy, we're leaving," he tapped the air beside him, causing a cool tile like effect to create a Garganta "you disappointed me Trash, you weren't even worth killing," this comment was directed at Ichigo, "You on the other hand, while still being trash, might have been worth the hassle." This comment was directed towards Cain, who at the moment was still recovering from his own destabilized cero. "you at least were interesting, although at your current power you would still pose no threat to Aizen."

"Give me a month or so Ulquiorra and I'll prove you wrong about that. Give Ichigo half that and he'll be able to kick your ass halfway through next week." Cain pointed at himself, "But before all of that, I want you to give Aizen a message from me to him," he flipped the cuarta espada off, a daring move, "I hope he gets the message."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. Just to remind everyone I am taking Oc applications for Cain's organization. The crazier the better when it comes to ideas. Thanks again to Xx13deathsxX for the Oc Crow who I am using in this and for the reviews. You all are the reason I keep writing. I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter.**

Cain plunged his left hand into a bucket of ice water, the burns from his attempt at a Cero were healing faster than a normal person's but were still far slower than a hollow's High speed regeneration, no doubt it was a watered down version but the burns still stung like hell. His foot was currently in a bucket of its own, turns out that after the adrenaline rush wore off it hurt a hell of a lot more than it did originally. If he ever got the chance to learn basic Kaido when he got the chance, it might be useful to be able to heal both himself and others if he was going to go through with his idea of an organization.

"So, you're telling me that those two were Arrancar. In other words, they are Hollows that have discarded their masks to gain both shape and powers similar to Shinigami." He was currently in Urahara's shop as he had wanted to talk to the shopkeeper after his confrontation with the two individuals. "And you say that they called this tough skin of theirs Hierro?"

He received a nod from Urahara, that infuriating fan in front of his face waving back and forth, the man had attached several nodes to him to try and get a reading from around his skin. Cain supposed that this was payment for the buckets of ice water, although the mad scientist was also in the middle of looking at Crow, who had taken a position behind Cain, much to the latter's annoyance. "So the bug guy I fought was an Arrancar, well that explains the hole in his chest, although I think I could have taken him out." He looked at his burnt hand that was resting in the bucket of ice water, "Although that cero, it's a lot harder to do than it looks. I thoroughly analyzed its structure and it really is just nothing more than a high density ball of reiryoku that is sustained into a ball and then shot at the opponent."

"You really messed up your hand boss," commented Crow from behind him, "and that foot of yours looks pretty swollen to me." He patted the hybrid on the back, "Better luck next time though boss!" he erupted into laughter.

"Shut up. I don't want to hear that from you, you're the one who didn't warn me about the denser skin that the guy had. You ate that arm didn't you?" he glared at the bount right behind him, which was in and of itself a feat worth mentioning because both his hand and foot remained inside the ice water.

"I thought a guy like you would've been able to tell, after all you were the guy that cut off the arm in the first place." Crow shrugged, "I figured that you already knew, plus, if I remember correctly, you told me to, and I quote, take care of the people that could be taken care of."

Cain, recognizing a hopeless fight when he saw one decided to change the subject of the conversation. "I see you gave me a little present in the underground training area you made." He stated to Urahara, "what is it, and more importantly what does it do?"

Urahara sighed, but responded, "it is a device I created a long time ago called the Tenshintai, it is a device that forcibly materializes a zanpakuto spirit and is used to achieve bankai in three days." He folded his fan and took on a serious expression, "I'm not going to sugar coat it, there is a potential that those two aren't the only two in Aizen's army, chances are they aren't even the strongest, if you want to continue to be a part of this battle then you are going to need Bankai." Cain looked at the man, he was never serious but in this case he was as calm and collected as anyone he had met.

"Well then there is only one thing I need to do then isn't there?" he stood up his fully healed and his foot un swollen, "I just have to go get my bankai then."

He walked out of the room and started back towards his own place, Crow following behind him, as they walked towards their warehouse Crow decided to ask a question of Cain, "Say, Boss?"

"What is it Crow?" Cain had given up trying to correct the Bount; it was an exercise in futility.

"That Urahara guy said that it would take at least three days to achieve bankai, what if some Arrancar decide to invade the world of the living before then?" he was honestly curious as to the answer Cain would give, knowing him it would at least be interesting.

"If that happens then you will have to give aid where it is necessary Crow, or you could just go wild. I don't really care either way just make sure that the normal humans are safe," Cain shrugged "Hell, you could even see if you could get a meal out of it." They reached the Warehouse that Cain had decided to occupy and began climbing down the ladder that led to the underground training area. "Just don't bother me for three days. OK?"

"Got it boss, go wild in the event of an Arrancar attack. You go do that bankai thing and leave everything to good old Crow." He gave Cain a rather disturbing smile "Scythe is in need of a workout anyways" he closed the door above Cain's head and went towards the roof of the building.

**Underground training area**

Cain looked around the training area, it was a wide empty desert for the most part, on the wall behind him Urahara had been nice enough to include both a healing spring and a cave for him to sleep in. not that he had any intentions of sleeping. The first thing he had to establish was which of his zanpakuto were going to let him achieve bankai.

**"Youngling you will need my power in the coming struggle. To this end your other spirits and I have decided that you shall use me to attain your initial bankai."** The unmistakable voice of Kikōō rumbled through his mind its authoritative tone unmistakable for anything else.

"If you are sure then, I would greatly appreciate your assistance." He drew the sword that held the spirit of the fire spirit, and drove it into the human like Tenshintai. The results were astounding, a column of fire sprung up from the doll, expanding and revealing the phoenix shape of the fire spirit.

"**Shall we begin Youngling, I shall not give you bankai easily, you must prove your worth to me."** The phoenix spread its flames across the length and width of the entire training area, "**Find the source of your fire before the time runs out, only then will you be worthy of hearing my full true name."**

Cain looked around the room, "Well, you know what they say; nothing worth doing is ever easy." He sat down in a meditative pose and began to think about the entire situation.

**A few hours later outside the training grounds.**

Crow was bored; he had been sitting on top of the roof, waiting for something exciting to happen, it had already been hours since the Boss had gone to the underground training area, "damn, the boss always gets to do the exciting things," he took out a black doll, it resembled a scarecrow, on the head of the scarecrow was a bount crest, symbolizing its status as not just a doll, but a bount Doll.

"**Why do you even hang around with him anyways, he never lets us cut things up." **The voice of the Doll spoke to him, "**If you're bored just find something else to do." **

"We can't just leave him," Crow explained to his doll, "I have a feeling that if we stick with him interesting things are just bound to happen," he sensed several large Reiatsu emerge from nowhere, signifying the arrival of the Arrancar. He could also sense a gigantic one among them, it wasn't as big as that Ulquiorra guy that he had felt earlier that day but it was still gigantic. "Well **Scythe**" his eyes gained a crazy look to them, his smile just as crazy, "Shall we go greet our visitors?"

**"It's been ages since I cut something to ribbons, you've been to tame as of late,"** the Doll's eyes flashed a dangerous red, "**But yes, let's go, I am dying to cut these Arrancar." **

**Above Urahara's shop**

The Arrancar had just thrown away a beaten and bruised Ururu, blood trailing from her body. He resembled a bull, horns pointed forwards and had a huge body. He was moving forwards to crush her when an someone interfered and grabbed the falling body of Ururu.

"Who are you? Another one of this Shinigami's associates?" the giant bull like humanoid inquired. Ready to destroy another one of the obstacles in his way, however, he couldn't feel any reiatsu coming off of the newcomer.

"I'm afraid I can't let you continue with your existence Mister Arrancar," the figure of Crow stood up from where he had placed the prone body of Ururu, and from the inside of his trench coat he drew the black scarecrow doll. "Zeige Dich, **Scythe!" **

**"Finally!" **From the black scarecrow doll an image projected itself forth; it took the shape of a scarecrow, the color of which was shiny black obsidian. The moonlight shone off of the arms in particular, from the sleeves of the scarecrow were wicked looking blades, they were as black as the rest of it save for the sharp edges of the blades which were a blood red.

"Shred him to pieces!" came the command from Crow, a disturbing laugh following the command.

**"did you even need to tell me that?"** the Doll flew at the released Arrancar, who was caught off guard at the speed the Doll possessed, it was undeniably quick, "**I'm going to rip that arm of yours off first!" **the blades on the Doll's arms began spinning, as the arm descended into the Arrancar the blades let out a bloodcurdling shriek as they tore through the Hierro and severed the arm, and cut deep into the Arrancar's chest. The Arrancar let out a loud bellow as the Doll spun itself around, the second arm of the Doll digging itself into the other side of his body, eliciting the same bloodcurdling screech that had accompanied the loss of the other arm, the blades cutting deep into the Arrancar's flesh.

What shocked the Arrancar the most however was when the person himself suddenly appeared in front of him, the hood of his trench coat thrown back in the sudden movement, his face was pale, just like the rest of him, however, as he opened his mouth it was revealed that every single one of his teeth were pointed, like a shark's.

"Thanks for the meal Mister Arrancar!" he said in a crazy voice, almost reminiscent of a hollow's, the Arrancar tried to move, but the Doll prevented him, the Reishi that comprised the Arrancar started to flow into Crow's open mouth, the blood flowed most freely and the severed arm had already completely been absorbed by him.

"What…What the hell are you!?" the rapidly disappearing Arrancar screamed as he felt his body decompose into reishi particles.

"Me?" Crow asked, the reishi flowing into him despite his mouth having moved, "I am a Bount, and I hunt hollows for my meals. You had the misfortune of the boss being indisposed, he would have at least giving you a clean death." by the time that he had finished his sentence the Arrancar had disappeared up to its neck the horns having been one of the first things to disappear head was being absorbed from two sides.

He looked at the Shinigami floating nearby it looked like he was just as shocked at what had happened as the Arrancar had been. Crow dispelled **Scythe** the Doll returning to the scarecrow doll that Crow had. Then Crow left the area, not wanting to get seen by the captain he was sensing, after all, members of his race had just recently invaded the Seireitei. So, disguising himself in the shadows he left, trusting in his natural ability to remain undetected from the reiatsu sensing abilities of others. Sometimes being a Bount was a very useful thing.

**Meanwhile in the training area.**

Cain shot up from where he was sitting. He had been thinking over the riddle of his test and had come to a solid conclusion. He was glad that his test had been a mental one instead of the much more common combat type tests he had heard of. "I understand. Kikōō, none of these flames here are the source of my fire."

**"Oh? Then tell me youngling, what is the source of your fire?"** the phoenix asked of Cain, smirking at the young hybrid.

"That was what was so easy about your test, it was so simple that I overlooked the possibility as too obvious. However," he placed his right thumb over his heart, "My own conviction is the source of my fire, my resolve is reflected in your flames."

"**Wonderfully done youngling, you have passed the test." **The flames from around the training area rejoined the Phoenix, "**Call me when you need the power of my bankai, My name is…"**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: thanks to everyone who read the last chapter, whether you read this today or a year from today I would like to say that it is you the readers that keep this project of mine going. So I would like to say that this chapter, like all of them, is dedicated to every single one of you. So please enjoy this chapter and review…please?**

The several days following the invasion of the Arrancar into the human world went by without any major incident. In fact, it had been almost an entire month since anything of any particular note had taken place inside of Karakura town. After the first encounter with the Arrancar the long intermission seemed like a huge let down. The only real indication that anything was in the works was the fact that the average level of hollow that had begun to appear in Karakura town had sprung up an impressive amount.

This made it all the more satisfying when out of nowhere several large reiatsu suddenly appeared one morning. He could feel it even in the reiatsu suppressing properties of the training area. He smirked as he held a white-blue ball in his hand, "They finally got here huh?" he closed his fist, and fired the ball of energy into one if the training dummies that he had made Urahara prepare for him. the doll was blown back by the speed and force behind it but it still lacked the power of that Arrancar's cero had, but it was faster to charge and still had a nice kick to it.

Cain looked across the training area, observing the damage that he and Crow had dealt to it while training themselves. He brushed himself off; the dust that had been kicked up from his technique was pushed off of his outfit. "Crow! Where are you?" he called out to his bount companion, who was almost never where he was supposed to be despite what he always called Cain.

"Over here boss!" he was over in the corner of the area, resting, and while he had eaten just a month ago, training with Cain had taken a drastic toll on his reserves. They had been training nonstop for almost a week at that point, before that they had rested for two days from their last weeklong training session. "You can be a real slave driver sometimes you know that? That arm alone should have lasted me at the least half a century and that whole Arrancar should have lasted twice that, yet here I am trying to save what little I have left of those two encounters because SOMEBODY decided it would be a good idea to go all out." He stood up, sore from the entire months' worth of effort and work. It really was hard for him to get anywhere near Cain, most of the energy that he had spent went towards regenerating damage, which naturally was by far the most draining ability he possessed.

"If I don't push myself I don't get any better, besides, you were all for me testing out my new abilities on you in the first place. So don't complain." He walked towards the exit, the reiatsu of the obviously high powered foes giving him a thrill, it had been a month since he had last encountered an Arrancar, and while these didn't even approach the level of power that Ulquiorra had possessed, they were all insanely strong. "Just so we're clear, you are not to leave the building until I get back. These guys could kill you the way you are now. If you want to you can sit on the roof and gather what reishi you can from the battles."

"Don't worry about it boss! The way I feel right now I'm not going anywhere except to feed for at least a little while." He crawled his way into the healing springs, "At least that guy Urahara let you have this healing spring, without it I don't want to think of the state I'd be in now." He waved as Cain exited the underground area, the reiatsu feeling even stronger than when he was underneath the building. He could already feel multiple reiatsu clashing as if in combat, but the most distinctive one was Ichigo's, his reiatsu felt like an imperfect mix of Shinigami and hollow, kind of what he assumed his own felt like at times. From what he could feel by himself he was holding his own against a particularly nasty opponent. However, he could also tell that this power was highly unstable, most likely because of its unnatural nature. While it was extremely strong in one aspect the transformation that Ichigo had undergone was most likely fragile, that or it had a time limit.

Cain flashed himself over to where he could feel Ichigo was fighting, he was interested in the guy Ichigo was fighting as well, the guy seemed almost exactly in the middle of the power he had sensed from both Ulquiorra and Yammy, but he seemed to be missing something. Whatever it was he would be able to see it for himself when he got there, that is If Ichigo left him anything to see.

By the time he got there things had already gone down in flames, it seemed like he was right about Ichigo's power having a limitation, from what he had sensed the transformation lasted no longer than eleven seconds. He had sensed Rukia's reiatsu flare for a bit then come crashing down, he saw the reason why, A sky blue hair colored guy with one arm and a scar down the middle of his chest was clutching her head, a point blank cero starting to form in his hand. Cain saw this and charged one of his new techniques, a blue white ball formed on the tip if the claw of his left pointer finger as he pointed a clawed finger at the Arrancar, and fired it at his wrist.

The colliding energies canceled each other out in a cloud of dust and steam, causing the Arrancar to remove his grip on Rukia's head. "Now, how about you tangle with me," he brought up **Onmyouji **in its shikai form, the dagger looking less than threatening by itself, but the spell formulae and obsidian in the cross guard already starting to turn from black to white gave a menacing air to the blade.

"Who the fuck are you!?" came the agitated response from the blue haired Arrancar, furious that someone else had interrupted him. Cain flashed himself forwards toward the Arrancar and slashed sideways with **Onmyouji**, the speed and power of the swing forcing the Arrancar back a snarl on his face as he struggled against the blade.

"Sorry, I guess I should introduce myself to you…" he pushed the Arrancar back, using the same kind of reiryoku manipulation that gave his hakuda a stronger hit, and sent the Arrancar flying into the air. He then flared his own blue white reiatsu, "The name is Cain Zephys, I don't have a title but I think that doesn't matter so much does it?" he pointed the tip of **Onmyouji** at him, "Especially when you should be worrying about your own life."

At the end of his sentence green chains sprung forth from the tip of the blade, coiling around the Arrancar, Cain raised his left hand towards the now bound adversary, his tails curving around him so that the tips of them were in a circle around the space just in front of it in the center of the tails and hand formed a blue white ball of energy, a cero. "Don't move an inch," Cain carefully aimed at the Arrancar, "I still haven't mastered this yet, it creates too big an explosion and is difficult to keep stable at this moment in time, that's why I use my tails."

"What the fuck are you talking about!? There's no way some wannabe Shinigami could possibly use a cero," he struggled against the chains that had been cast around him, and found that they wouldn't budge, the lack of an arm was preventing him from creating the nescesary force required to break the chains.

"Tell me, if there is no chance of this being a cero," Cain smirked at the Arrancar, "then why are you so desperate to get out of my bindings?" He unleashed the blue ball of energy at the bound Arrancar. As it left his hand the ball expanded into a large beam, the blue energy washing over the blue haired Arrancar. He did however see a burst of orange inside the otherwise blue white energy wave.

He saw the arrancar's body fall from where it was standing and fly into the ground. Cain chased the body, knowing that his cero had at the very least damaged the Arrancar he arrived at the spot where he had landed, a crater forming at the point of impact. The Arrancar was bleeding from all over his body, multiple lacerations and burn marks clearly visible on his skin. He was losing a lot of blood, but was still conscious.

"SHIT!" the Arrancar saw Cain walking up to him, "How the fuck did you use cero!? You're not an Arrancar or even a hollow!" he rushed at Cain, drawing his own Zanpakuto, "**Grind!**" he was stopped short of his release by a pale hand. Ulquiorra had materialized next to the Arrancar, effortlessly stopping him one handedly.

"The mission is complete Grimmjow," he took notice of Cain, his zanpakuto released as it was, "I see that you have grown, to be able to do this to Grimmjow even in his current state…it is unfortunate that I do not have the time to eliminate you at this given moment In time." He opened a garganta with a tap of his finger, "Next time we meet however, you will not be so fortunate."

Cain looked at the espada dispassionately, "Sure sure, don't forget what I told you Ulquiorra," the tip of his dagger was pointed directly at the hole in Ulquiorra's chest, "I told you that I wouldn't even need to lift a finger to beat you, give Ichigo enough time and he'll just do it for me."

Cain stopped, he could sense something faint in the Garganta, he lunged for the pale espada unfortunately however, the Garganta was closed by the time he reached the position of the espada. "Damn that guy, so she was their objective all along huh? That's going to backfire on them in the worst possible way; Aizen must like playing with fire because now he will have a rabid Ichigo on his tail." He cracked his neck, "This is going to be so much fun I can hardly wait." He looked around at the destruction that the battle had caused the surrounding area. And a thought crossed his mind, where the hell were all the people! They were no longer in the abandoned areas near the warehouse that he owned and he thought that at least two or three casualties. He guessed that he should be grateful that there were no casualties but a part of him found the entire situation a tad anticlimactic. Then again, if this was a play this would be nowhere near the climax. So he figured that he should go collect Ichigo from where he left him and bring him to Urahara's for healing.

The only problem with that plan was that when he had arrived at where he had left Ichigo's bleeding body he found that it had been moved from where he had left him. he could follow the blood trail for a bit but then it just stopped. Sighing he decided that he should go inform Urahara of the situation, because no matter how connected that guy was, there was no possible way that he already knew about this particular bit of information. Besides, Urahara always had some kind of wacky invention already good to go whenever something crazy happened around. Although a direct route into Hueco Mundo would probably be outside the guy's wheel house.

On his way to the store he stopped by at his warehouse and picked up Crow, the guy was positively glowing with the absorbed reishi that had no doubt been overflowing from the battles; it was a useful ability in a comrade.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. Especially to GirlFish, Xx13deathsxX and Demetrius, in addition, to Demetrius I would like to get a more thorough explanation of the ocs you reviewed about, I need an explanation on their individual powers as well as their personalities. But I am interested in them. in addition of anyone has any questions or comments about the story, please feel free to pm me, I try and respond to any I receive in a timely fashion. Without further ado please enjoy this latest chapter. **

It had taken less than an entire day for Ichigo to discover that Orihime had been taken to Hueco Mundo by Aizen's forces. And in that brief period of time the captain commander had decided to recall all the advance forces that he had placed in the world of the living, leaving the substitute Shinigami with almost no support in his endeavor. In addition to this Urahara had already figured a way into Hueco Mundo using kido, furthermore, since Ichigo knew that Urahara had knowledge of the entire thing, he decided to go to Urahara's shop without hesitation.

Cain watched Ichigo enter the underground training area, hiding his own presence with relative ease, not that he had to with Ichigo, he just wanted to preserve the illusion for a bit longer. He watched Ichigo demand to be teleported to Hueco Mundo in his typical fashion, clearly assuming that Urahara had already devised a way into there. Cain jumped off of his pillar and in front of Ichigo, startling the Shinigami substitute with the abruptness of the entrance. Crow, following suit and landing right behind Cain, something that Cain had totally given up on trying to change the Bount's mannerisms. It wasn't worth the effort in his opinion.

"Hey Ichigo!" he brought up his right hand and waved it by way of greeting, "I hear you're going to Hueco Mundo. I want in." Cain smirked, "I have a bet I have to win with that Ulquiorra guy, and it's been a month after all. Although I guess it would only be half a win…" he sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "But half a win is still a win after all."

"We are going to accompany you as well Kurosaki" the voice of Uryu Ishida made itself known to the Shinigami substitute, the Quincy made himself known as well as Chad, both were dressed for battle. Although in chad's case it was rather hard to tell because he just wore what he normally wore anyways, Uryu on the other hand was dressed in pure white Quincy garb. They landed in front of the substitute and chad showed off the results of his own training, punching Ichigo with his Brazo derecho Del gigante and causing a large explosion.

"Well now that everyone is here, Cain would you care to do the honors?" Urahara asked the hybrid, having taught him the spell to rip a hole in the dimensions, "I think a half hollow would have an easier time of breaking into Hueco Mundo, besides you learned something off of those Arrancar besides just the cero didn't you?"

Cain glared at the shopkeeper, "How you know about the second thing is beyond me, but yes I did, I don't feel comfortable doing it right now though," he shrugged, "It takes a lot of power and I am going to need every iota of reiryoku that I can spare to fight those Arrancar," he tapped his swords, "My bankai takes a lot to maintain and I am going to need it to fight those espada, especially that Ulquiorra guy" Cain wasn't even in his awoken state at the moment, that was how much he was trying to conserve his reiryoku.

"It was worth a shot," he brought forth two big pillars and stood on one of them, he began the incantation. "**My right hand is the stone that bridges worlds. My left hand is the blade that binds reality. The black haired shepherd is hung from a chair. Stratus clouds come, and I strike down the ibis."** The incantation caused an oval Garganta to appear between the twin pillars. The group of five jumped into the Garganta as Cain took the lead. He knew that besides him, Uryu was the only one able to make a smooth enough bridge for all of them to run on safely all the way to Hueco Mundo.

"How did you manage to do this so easily?" came an impressed voice from Ichigo, "I would never be able to do this with so little effort."

"It's because I'm excellent at reishi manipulation" was Cain's reply, he saw Uryu flying on what looked like a reishi surfboard, "Although I am nowhere as good as a Quincy and will never be that good. But then again all of their powers are the result of reishi manipulation so that is no big surprise."

"oh, well that does make sense then doesn't it." Ichigo looked impressed at the casual explanation, besides, despite how he both looked and acted he was actually fairly smart. After a few more minutes of running and they broke through the barrier on the other side, entering into Hueco mundo, landing in what looked like some kind of grey building.

It appeared to be a corridor of some sort, the walls of the corridor were grey and it seemed to go on for a good long while. As they were running down it, both Uryu and Ichigo managed to trigger a trap each. Uryu triggered a trap which resulted in the floor giving way and the trap that Ichigo triggered was far more mundane, consisting of only the cliché giant boulder which chad promptly crushed with his herculean strength. What was interesting however was the massive Arrancar that appeared shortly afterwards, driving them into a large chamber where another Arrancar appeared.

One of them had no legs but rather a kind of conic base which floated over the floor, his mask covered approximately three quarters of his face, and he had four skeletal arms with five fingers apiece. The other one was unremarkable despite its size. Crow smirked and prepared for a feast, he had been passively absorbing the thick reishi in the air, but two Arrancar both weaker than the one he had fought in the world of the living, it was like they were both asking to be eaten. However Cain held him back, observing that both Uryu and Chad wanted to test themselves against these newest threats. "You can devour them after they have been beaten, not before. I want to see this as well."

He observed the ongoing battle. With his restored powers Uryu was trying to take on the large Arrancar, but was having a problem forming his spirit bow, on the other hand chad was trying to fight the weirdly shaped Arrancar and was too slow to keep up with the Arrancar's sonido. However both seemed to realize this about halfway through the fight. Therefore they both switched opponents with each other, both of them making quick work of their opponents shortly thereafter.

After the Arrancar were sufficiently weakened by the attacks of both Uryu and Chad they were absorbed fairly quickly by Crow's ability. As weak as they were they put up virtually zero resistance, aside from cursing him out as they were drawn into his mouth. However, as the two of them were absorbed the room itself started to cave in, causing all of them to run up the stairs on the far end and emerge into the desert that was Hueco Mundo.

In the distance was a huge castle, what could only be assumed to be Las Noches, the stronghold of Aizen and his Arrancar army. It was absolutely massive, due to its size it was impossible to tell just how far away from them it was. However, none of them were really put off by this fact, on the contrary it seemed to embolden Ichigo, just the fact that he could see the place that Orihime was being held captive was enough for him. so they ran, they ran through the desert normally, not using their respective high speed movement techniques to conserve energy.

This kept up for hours until they finally stopped, all of them gasping for breath after the marathon run. Unfortunately for them their rest was not to last, as four figures came running in from a distance. It was what looked like a young Arrancar with pink hair being chased by two others and a giant, worm or snake like hollow. Ichigo, Chad and Uryu all tried to save the young Arrancar, although Cain doubted that they knew she was, not that he would have let the young Arrancar alone as it was, although he might not have done so as flashily as Ichigo and his comrades.

After a long explanation that Cain mostly ignored because it was just plain stupid, a large hollow made out of sand appeared in front of them. "That's the guardian of the white sands, Runuganga!" came the childish exclamation of Nel, Cain had learned that much from the bits and pieces he had been unable to block out.

"We don't have time for this **Getsuga Tensho!"** Ichigo cried the name of his signature technique as a blue wave of energy cut the sand hollow in half, however, even though the technique cut the mask of the hollow, it did not dissipate or die, instead it simply reformed itself, making it absolutely clear that it was made of no more than sand. It wasn't until the hollow opened up a sandpit beneath them that he finally decided to step in, deciding to use at least a kido to deal with the hollow. However he was superseded by a giant wave of ice that froze the thing solid and shattered it.

It so happened that the people that had appeared to save them were none other than Rukia and Renji, after a rather hilarious episode in which both Rukia and Renji both punched Ichigo in the face, all of them climbed aboard the snake worm thing and continued on their way to the castle of Las Noches. However, to Cain's eternal annoyance, the damn hollow just showed up again, and this time sent them into a forest far below the surface of Las Noches. In the confusion he saw Rukia fall off of Bawabawa, which Cain was told was the name of the snake worm thing that they were riding. And Cain, being who he was assumed that there would be much more fun to go with Rukia and maybe keep her from getting herself killed in the forest below them jumped off of the beast as well, following Rukia's descent into the forest of menos.

As they fell Cain used the variation of his high speed movement technique that allowed him to fly to soften his landing, Rukia on the other hand was not so lucky, falling unconscious after crashing onto the ground. She stayed that way for several minutes, slowly regaining consciousness afterwards, much to her surprise she immediately saw Cain. "Where are the others?" she demanded of him.

"Wow, you don't waste time at all do you?" Cain scratched his head as he shrugged at the Shinigami, "I don't know where they are, but I do know that we are separated from the group. I joined you because I thought it would be fun." He looked around, the massive amount of hollows around him not phasing him in the slightest, "And what would you know, I was right." A myriad of his spirit wires flew from his fingers, he didn't even need his zanpakuto to deal with this low a level of hollow and there was no need to hold back either. "I don't even need my zanpakuto for these guys, come on then" he called out to the myriad of hollows surrounding both him and Rukia, "It's time for us to dance," he manipulated the wires, "and the dance we shall be doing shall bethe **Battle Waltz**" the wires cut into the hollows that surrounded them, the sheer number of the hollows meaning absolutely nothing in the face of the razor thin wires he possessed, however, the number of them was beginning to be a problem, so he grabbed Rukia and ran towards a thin light that he saw in the distance, he kept the Battle Waltz active for the entire run, eliminating hollows that tried to flank or pursue him and Rukia.

When they got to the light what they saw was nothing but Menos Grande, nothing but acres of Gillians, and while they were the lowest level of Menos by themselves in a group they were nothing to sneeze at. "Well shit, this is going to be a real pain isn't it?"


	24. Chapter 24

**A/n: thanks to everyone who read the last chapter of my fanfic. This is day 21 of my self-imposed challenge, three weeks of 2k words per day and it wouldn't have been possible without the continued support of my readers. So from the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every one of you. Please review as it does help me write but otherwise please enjoy this latest chapter.**

Cain leapt from the ledge where he and Rukia stood looking out at the Menos, both of his swords drawn, and cut the mask of the nearest Menos. He spun, and as he spun he projected reiryoku from the tips of his blades, extending their cutting range and slashed through the nearest two. He retracted the reishi that had been used to extend the blades, it was a more advanced application of his Battle Waltz, but since it was his original technique he almost felt bad about not using it more.

Unfortunately however, it seemed that he had underestimated the number of Menos Grande, he had estimated an approximate twenty to thirty Gillian in that clearing, however, it would have been much more accurate guess to say there were two to three hundred. He looked out across the sea of black robed white masked skyscraper tall hollows from the hight of the platform he had made out of the reishi in the air. Cain sheathed **Onmyouji** instead keeping **Kikōō **firmly in his right hand.

The Menos all stared at him, and almost as one they prepared to fire their cero, the red orbs of death pointed right at him. However, as they were about to fire at him a man with a fur cape with hollow masks all over the back of it, he wore a hollow mask himself but his own reiatsu revealed that he was a Shinigami, he grabbed Rukia and flashed himself above the firing range of the released cero. Cain flashed himself right next to the Shinigami as they both stood above the cero, both looking at the other in silent understanding both taking their respective zanpakuto and destroying the hollows in front of them with swift, clean cuts before flashing away from the Menos Grande.

They flashed through the forest, neither one able to gain any ground on the other, both of them subtly trying to outdo the other, but neither one truly trying outright. The two of them arrived in a cavern big enough for living and hiding out, but as soon as the Shinigami put Rukia down, he lunged at Cain, sword going fast enough for Cain to be caught slightly off guard. However as soon as the swords clashed the Shinigami immediately flashed behind Cain, the speed of the movement was a surprise to him but he was able to spin around and intercept the blade once more, he could feel the man's surprise that he had been able to block both surprise attacks. The man continued to try and surprise Cain with his speed for the next minute not once getting the drop on him. Actually, once Cain had gotten used to the man's speed it was rather easy to anticipate the direction from which the Shinigami was going to attack from.

"You're quite strong; to be able to keep up with my shunpo so effortlessly, what is your name?" the Shinigami asked him, Cain being slightly annoyed at the sudden question after the man tried to kill him several times. But he supposed that the man had been here for a very long time and had developed a safe sense of paranoia, which must have been what kept him alive for however long he had been here.

"Cain Zephyrs, the guy who is completely pissed off at your surprise attack, what is yours?" he looked over at Rukia, who was in shock from the display of speed between the two of the combatants. "The person over there is Rukia Kuchiki, you don't have to test her, I can vouch for her safety myself." He sighed, this Shinigami was becoming troublesome in his own right, and the man obviously had no clue as to what was going on outside the forest of menos. Although he probably knew a way out of the forest of menos so Cain couldn't leave the guy to just go exploring by himself.

"do you know a way out of the forest of the menos? Being here for so long surely you know where to go to get out of here." The Shinigami motioned to in a direction, and pointed that way.

"It's over there, but there are several Adjuchas class menos and even a Vasto Lorde have claimed that area as their own." He responded shaking his head negatively.

"Thanks, I'll go wait over there then, I want to see how much of a hassle this is going to be." Cain began to head over towards where the Shinigami had motioned towards, planning on going in alone.

"Wait! There are several Adjuchas class menos over there, not to mention the Vasto Lorde that hangs out around there. Are you insane!? Going over there is a death sentence!" the Shinigami was losing it over Cain's blasé attitude towards the high powered hollows and it was destroying his concentration.

"What is your name?" Cain asked him annoyed at his interference and his whining.

"Ashido. And I must insist that you don't go over there alone, a lone Vasto Lorde has the power to take on even a captain of the Gotei 13, and fighting one is suicide."

Cain just looked at the Shinigami and very bluntly said to him, "Well, you never know unless you try, and I don't really plan on fighting him, although I don't think that it would be the hardest thing for me." He turned around and flashed towards the exit of the forest of menos, keeping his reiatsu to a bare minimum, making him almost a ghost in the forest of menos. As he approached the exit he could see a grouping of what he had to assume were Adjuchas class menos. As soon as he did, he flashed himself right into the middle of the circle of the four of them and vented his reiatsu, causing all of them to leap back in shock.

"I am terribly sorry about this, but killing you appears to be the fastest way to draw out the Vasto Lorde I hear inhabits the area around here." He drew his left hand over his shoulder and intoned, "**Despierta, Kyoka!"** his transformation lasted less than a second, the tails materializing in nothing flat and his entire image becoming more vulpine. In less than five seconds the fight was over, Cain decapitated each one of the Adjuchas class hollows in a display of blistering speed. Their heads hit the ground before they even seemed to know what was happening. He hadn't spent that month just sitting around practicing with his zanpakuto he had increased both his basic speed and his **Kitsune Issen **to a point where he was almost satisfied, and he was almost never satisfied with anything. He flashed away from the decapitated bodies, and pointed his hand at them, his tails curving around him giving him a better focus for his Cero. "Goodbye Adjuchas. **Cero celeste" **the white blue ball of energy flew at the corpses and eradicated them, their entire bodies turning to ash as well as a good chunk of forest behind them.

He looked at the destruction he had caused with his attack and blinked, he looked at his palm, then back at the wreckage. He smiled to himself; it looked like he was right to train himself to use the cero after all. Although he had no real time to celebrate his victory over the Adjuchas, as he felt a gigantic power descending towards him, it was far too big to be an Adjuchas class, and it didn't have the mixed nature that the Arrancar possessed. This was pure hollow reiatsu and it was just as advertised. Larger than the average captain's by a good amount and a white humanoid form that Cain guessed all Vasto Lorde possessed. The arms and legs of it were shiny black and it had a blue flame pattern on its shoulders. Its mask covered almost all of its face with the exception of a slit where its eyes shone through a pale blue. The mask was white with the exception of black lines that went almost all the way down the mask, he wore the bottom half of a Shinigami shihakusho, probably from someone that he had killed and taken it from as a trophy.

He dropped down and slashed at Cain with the wicked looking claws that grew on his hands, and kept pressing the assault, forcing Cain into a defensive battle, it was a good thing he had practiced his hakuda combat as he found himself trying to keep up with the Vasto Lorde in terms of basic speed. They kept exchanging blows at a lighting fast pace until the Vasto Lorde landed a cut just above Cain's eyebrow, as the hit landed Cain unleashed an upen handed strike on the Vasto Lorde's abdomen, venting his reiryoku as he did so, the force of it causing the bone armor to crack and the Vasto Lorde to be forced back from him.

"I can only guess at who you are, but I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that you are the Vasto Lorde that Ashido warned me about." Cain focused a portion of his reiryoku into the cut above his eyebrow and healed the injury, being half hollow did have its advantages. "I am Cain Zephyrs, do you have one?"

"Cazador Luna" the Vasto Lorde replied in as few words as possible, raising his arms and producing two bone blades from inside of them "And you are my prey." He spoke in a near monotone type of voice, there was expression in his voice, there was just not much of it. It was as if the Vasto lorde was focused solely on the task of killing Cain.

Cain drew his two zanpakuto in response, releasing **Onmyouji **as he did so, he was not going to take a Vasto Lorde lightly and he was not enough of a fool to fight him in only his awakened state that was how much he respected the opponent's strength. They rushed at each other, both of them striking and parrying their blades with a speed few could match, Cain wielded his swords in such a way that he used the shorter **Onmyouji** to block the blows that came too close for comfort as well as a counter balance for his more traditional single handed sword **Kikōō** which he was using to cut and out maneuver Cazador.

Cazador was equally skilled with his two swords however, matching Cain blow for blow even when the latter went as fast as he could. Eventually both of them started to move even faster and faster, using their high speed movement techniques in their movements, both of their weapons clashing, separating and clashing again almost faster than the both of them could see. Neither one could seem to get the advantage, whenever Cazador would land a hit on Cain he was thwarted by the latter's tough skin and his cuts only went half as deep as they were supposed to. And Cain was hard pressed to combat the vicious, animalistic style of Cazador, only managing to graze the Vasto Lorde a few times without actually doing any real damage. Of course, both of them were unaware of both the reiatsu they were putting out in their fight, and of the crowd they were drawing in. Not only had a gathering of Menos Grande arrived, but Ichigo and his companions, including Crow had as well. All of them were shocked at the level of fighting that was going on between the two combatants.

They drew apart, both of them drenched in sweat and blood, both ragged and breathing hard both of them drawing reishi from the surrounding area to help heal the worst of their injuries. Both combatants had feral grins on their faces, enjoying themselves to the fullest against a worthy opponent, and both knew that the next blow was going to end their fight.

"You…fight well…" gasped out Cazador, "You…are worthy prey…" he brought up his two bone swords, chipped and cracked from the intense battle that they had just gone through, they started to glow, one black as the darkest night and one a deep almost purple blue.

"You're…not to bad yourself, Cazador…" Cain brought up his tails and left hand, his white blue reiatsu pooling into the center as he charged his own attack.

"**Cero Muerte/Celeste!**" both of them shouted as they released their respective Cero form their chosen forms. The cero collided in a huge explosion that disintegrated almost all the menos unlucky to be caught in the blast. Ichigo and the others had taken cover as soon as they had seen the energy buildup, and that kept them safe from the brunt of the blast.

Cazador stood there, covered in fresh lacerations from the explosion, he was about to leave when a white gloved hand pierced the fog and grabbed his mask. Cain had rushed through the explosion, hardening the reiatsu in his skin to as tough as he could manage it and made for Cazador's mask. His gamble paid off as he took the Vasto lorde by surprise.

"Let's test something out shall we!" he ripped off Cazador's mask and all hell broke loose.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. I would also like to thank those who have been with this challenge since the beginning, only two days left till I go back to school and then these updates will be fewer. Sorry guys but it's the truth. Also I have a poll up on my profile for whether or not to do the quincy arc. Please check it out, also please review it motivates me like crazy to write this story. Thanks especially to Xx13deathsxX, guest and InsertBadPunHere for reviewing the previous chapter. Please enjoy this latest addition!**

As soon as Cain ripped the mask off of the Vasto Lorde an explosive amount of reiatsu blasted up and through the ceiling of the forest of the menos. The explosive reiatsu coalesced into Cazador's now even more human frame; there was no change in his size of basic form at all, although his outward appearance changed drastically. His bone armor had turned into pale skin, and the majority of his mask was gone, the remnants leaving a band around his head, like a sweatband or circlet, leaving the rest of his face clear of anything distinctive, his arms and legs had become pale in the absence of the blackened bone armor retaining only their slender nature, although the blue flame pattern on his shoulders remained, his zanpakuto materialized as well, forming into a set of wicked looking claws that were curved at the end, increasing their ripping power. They were perfect for the savage hunter that Cazador was on the inside, no matter how stoic he was on the outside. The only thing he wore however, were the bottoms of the Shinigami shihakusho that he had worn previously, which was a relief to Cain as he had no desire to see just how much an Arrancar shared of a Shinigami's anatomy.

When the lights and the dust cleared Cazador was kneeling towards Cain, head bowed in a manner of submission. This was kind of awkward for Cain, as he was currently sprawled out on his back completely exhausted from his fight with the newly formed Arrancar.

"So, why aren't you killing me?" Cain asked the new Arrancar, the transformation had apparently healed all of his wounds leaving him fresh and ready to battle. The new Arrancar looked affronted at the suggestion, as if the idea hadn't even crossed his mind. "You very well could you know, I'm about tapped out after that fight." Although this was technically not true about his reiryoku reserves, Cain was physically exhausted from the high speed exchanges and two cero fired so soon after each other. Not to mention that he really had to save what remained of his reiryoku for the storming of Las Noches.

"why would I do such a thing my Lord?" Cazador inquired, his voice gaining a bit more expression since he was not as focused as during the fight. "You beat me in combat, in Hueco Mundo the weak serve the strong that is the rule."

"But I didn't technically beat you; I just got the drop on you at that last minute." Cain wondered why this newly formed Arrancar was acting subservient, he already had one person do so in a joking manner, but the sincerity of the way that the Arrancar was doing so was off putting.

"I could tell that you did not fight me at your full power…you have two zanpakuto yet you only released one of them, that alone allowed us to fight at an equal level…therefore if you had fought me at your full strength I would have lost." The Arrancar was uncomfortable speaking this much, he was a man of few words and explanations were uncomfortable for him.

"so by virtue of that you are going to follow me? What kind of logic is that?" Cain sat up, carefully catching his breath, "you don't know the first thing about me." The group that had been watching them cautiously closed the distance between them, the intense fighting having died down.

"Boss, who is that?" crow was surprisingly the first one to speak up asking the question for just about everyone in the area.

"Oh, him? He's just the Vasto lorde that inhabited this area; I turned him into an Arrancar as an experiment to see whether or not the Hogyoku was really needed to form an Arrancar, as it happens, it is not needed for the average Arrancar, just the ones Aizen has." Cain stood up brushing himself off and slowly beginning to gather reishi consciously from the environment. It was an imperfect technique as well as hampered by the fact that he was trying to accomplish something that naturally happened at a very slow rate, but he had begun to identify the phenomenon between watching Crow do the same thing countless numbers of times. And the reishi in the forest of the menos was so thick that it was very easy for him to do something similar.

"What do you mean, is he going with us now!? He just tried to kill you!" Ichigo yelled at him, but he was waved down by Crow.

"If the boss says it's ok, then let's trust him, besides don't tell me that you've never become friends with somebody after fighting them." the hollow behind him coughed, and spoke out.

"I would never try to be friends with my Lord. It is against the code." The Arrancar was still kneeling, wary of the new people, "Who are you to address my lord in such a manner? You should show some respect." He glared at Crow tension rising between the two of them.

"Please tell me you two can get along. Otherwise I might just have to take you both down a peg." Cain had had enough of their comedic routine, that bit with Nel had kind of tested his patience enough. "Seriously I want to reserve the bulk of my Reiryoku for the espada."

"Sure thing boss." Crow replied

"Of course my liege." Responded Cazador, the two of them glaring at each other as soon as Cain turned his back, it was a difference in extremes, Crow had a laid back attitude and Cazador had an uptight one, if the two didn't clash Cain might have been worried.

They all walked towards the exit, except for Ashido who decided to stay in the forest of menos to try and thin the numbers of potential Adjuchas by killing as many Gillian as he could, although the tunnel collapsing due to the fierce battle between Cain and Cazador before he could enter it may have also been a factor. it was probably a mix of the two reasons.

As they rose through the tunnel from the forest of menos they realized that the exit let them out right at the walls of Las Noches, a convenient exit really, almost as if it were fate or something, although the idea of that was simply ludicrous to Cain.

Ichigo blasted a hole in the wall of Las Noches using his shikai version of the Getsuga Tensho, and they all filed into the cavern created, leaving Nel and her two companions behind them as they would be in danger. After an incident that involved Nel wanting to follow Ichigo because of their supposed status as traitors since the appearance of Runuganga. Because of this all of them were walking down a dark passage, renji tried to make a light using Shakkahō but failed epically, his light barely made a dim glow, but Cain wasn't about to waste his reiryoku trying to make a new one.

They arrived in a large hall separating into five different passageways, the reiatsu from the corridors was palpable as they entered, Ichigo wanted them to all go together but Rukia and renji convinced him to trust in their power. After that was decided Renji told them all to put their hands on top of his as he explained about a Shinigami ritual. Cain, Crow and Cazador all decided to keep out of it, as it seemed like something that was going to be just among the five friends with no room for outsiders. That was until Ichigo demanded that they put their hands on the pile as well. It was just very Ichigo-ish of him. They did so just as renji began his chant.

"Now, we head towards the battlefield! Believe and our blades will not break! Believe and our hearts will not bend! Though the roads we take may be different our iron hearts will beat as one! Swear, that even if the earth is torn asunder, we will live and return here once again!" they all took off, their hands pressing down and then raising; they all took off in different directions. Crow followed chad in his route; the two of them being similar in power at the moment, and because Cain had told him to stay out of combat for a while and gather more reishi. Cazador followed Cain, who in turn was following Ichigo down the path of the strongest reiatsu. Cain could feel that the path that Ichigo was on would lead him into stronger and stronger opponents, and there was a much larger chance of him running into opponents that would allow him to both aid the Shinigami and provide him with no small amount of amusement.

Unfortunately for him, Nel had tagged along for the ride…he was not too happy about that, however he was interested in her broken mask…it seemed to be leaking reiryoku like a sieve full of water. It also seemed to be an injury of some sort and not natural at all. it was an interesting phenomenon that he wanted to observe and see if he could fix if possible, the amount of leaking reiryoku was massive.

The four of them kept running until Ichigo and Cain sensed a reiatsu following them, "Whoever is hiding there come out!" he yelled to the pursuer.

The man dropped from the ceiling, acting weird and doing a weird dance causing all of them to sweatdrop at the stupidity of the routine. Cain allowed Ichigo and the man to fight it out for a while, letting Ichigo take the lead and further conserving his own reiryoku, however he could see through the man's routine for the most part he was obviously hiding a good part of his power and intelligence behind the act, just the fact that his Hierro was enough to block Ichigo's blade was proof of that much. The man called himself the one hundred and third Arrancar, a Privaron Espada, one whose skills are on par with the current Espada's. he was throwing around Ichigo like he was nothing, provoking him into using his bankai, and had thrown him into a wall.

"My lord, shouldn't you step in?" a question from Cazador, curious as to what Cain's plan was.

"**Whirl Giralda!"** the Arrancar and Privaron espada had released his sword, achieving his release; it looked like two bird like creatures erupted from his legs. At this point Cain decided to step in. as Ichigo was in a crater on the floor.

He jumped down, **Kikōō** drawn from its sheath as he slashed down at the laughing man. "When are you going to learn Ichigo, sometimes it is better to just exterminate a nuiscance than let it grow into a big problem later." He stood before Ichigo, sword in a ready position, "Sorry, but I am going to steal your fight, save your strength for Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. **Rise from the ashes Kikōō!**"

Flames sprung from Cain's blade, creating wings of fire behind him and not touching his tails or burning them, the sword's guard turned into upturned wings and the blade glowed with an inner fire. Cain's reiatsu soared as even the Privaron espada was impressed.

"And what is your name Niño?" asked the Arrancar

"I apologize as you honestly seem like a good guy." Cain sighed to himself, as he flashed into and through the tempestuous winds that swirled around the Arrancar and slashed though the Arrancar's Hierro cutting off the man's legs at the knee, in addition once Kikōō had made contact with the man its ability activated and burned the flesh along the injuries along with blasting the Arrancar into the opposite side of the room.

"I just don't have the reiryoku to waste on you, and neither does Ichigo, I had to end it fast. Forgive me." He deactivated his shikai, returning the flames to his pool of reiryoku. "Ichigo, let's go, don't you have a princess to save?"


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: as Always I would like to thank each and every one of the people that read this fanfic. Without your support I would not be nearly as motivated to do this as I am. I would like to remind you that I do have a poll on my profile as to whether or not to do the Quincy arc and it will stay up until I am done with the fullbringer arc. So, without further ado, enjoy this next chapter.**

After Cain dispatched the Privaron Espada he had to deal with Ichigo complaining that he had stolen his fight. After about three minutes of arguing the four of them, Ichigo, Cain, Cazador and Nel, continued down the corridor towards where Ichigo believed that Orihime was being held captive. However as they ran down the corridor the both of them sensed something that made them skid to a stop. It was the reiatsu of Rukia Kuchiki, down almost to a spark from a fire, this indicated to them that she had at the least taken a devastating blow.

"So, you've noticed." Came a voice from behind them, causing Ichigo, who at this point was carrying Nel, Cain, and Cazador to all turn around, taking note of the person in the doorway. In the doorway above the stairs at the end of the hallway was the one and only, Ulquiorra Cifer. "And I thought the two of you were just strong, you've got some nice senses on you as well."

"Ulquiorra. So you finally show yourself." Cain exclaimed, noting the bearing of the Arrancar.

"How interesting that you would remember my name, as I have never introduced myself, no matter, one of your acquaintances has just died fighting an espada." The calm Ulquiorra responded.

"That can't be! Rukia's reiatsu only decreased just now." Ichigo shouted at the Espada

"Cognition Synchronization, which was one of espada #9's duties as well as one of his powers, he could transmit the status of his enemies to each one of us as it happened." As Ulquiorra was speaking Ichigo turned away and started to walk away. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to save Rukia." His back was turned to Ulquiorra as he spoke.

"Is it alright for you to leave without killing me." Replied the pale Arrancar.

"I have no reason to fight you, you may be my enemy but you haven't hurt any of my friends so I don't care."

"And if I told you I was the one who brought Orihime to Hueco Mundo?" Ichigo snapped, his sword connected with Ulquiorra just as soon as the espada had completed his sentence.

"I wouldn't have done that if I were you Ulquiorra," Cain chimed in, just wanting to get in his two cents because he really didn't like to be ignored, "Ichigo is brutal when it comes to the defense of even acquaintances, even more so that she is a close friend of his." He had observed things like this in the past, Ichigo seemed to draw out his full power only when his friends were in dire need.

Ichigo wasted no time in unleashing both his bankai and his hollowfication form his reiatsu becoming a crushing influence in the room. Cain wasted no time in broadening his own reiatsu to include the fail Nel, who was taking the sudden change in Ichigo's reiatsu harshly, barely being able to stand without being crushed. Thankfully, Cain was able to alleviate the pressure on both her and Cazador, as the new Arrancar was still unused to his new form. Ichigo wasted no time in launching the most powerful Getsuga Tensho he could at the Espada, despite him having been injured in the previous fight it was a truly a monstrous display. From the place that he stood he could plainly see that Ulquiorra was struggling against the blast, even resorting to using both of his hands in blocking the technique. To only a mixed result. Cain saw the explosion and the resulting damage it did the espada, in the smoke, he also saw Nel crawl over to Ichigo and start crying over him.

Cain watched as Ulquiorra emerged from the smoke and counterattacked Ichigo with a cero, the substitute Shinigami grabbing Nel and being blown out of the chamber as the translucent green cero blew him through the wall. Ulquiorra followed Ichigo who was still carrying Nel. He took a kick from the espada that threw him right into another building; Cain arrived just in time for Ulquiorra to remove his arm from Ichigo's chest blood gushing out along with his hand.

Cain ignored the espada, who seemed more than satisfied in letting him be as he had already dispatched Ichigo, and kneeled down beside the substitute Shinigami and started to use the basic Kaido that he had learned for situations like this, while he couldn't manage to heal the wound he did manage to help the bleeding. He just wasn't a healer, fortunately for him one was thrown through the window for him. The sky blue haired Arrancar Grimmjow Jaegerjaques had brought with him the burnt orange haired Orihime Inoue from her prison in order to heal Ichigo.

"Heal him," the espada commanded of the human, he himself sat down on rubble as he waited for Orihime to comply with his demands. Nel was crying as Orihime began to heal Ichigo, explaining to Orihime what had happened to the soul reaper, unfortunately for her, Grimmjow found her voice extremely irritating, however, before he could say anything to her about it Cain shot him a look, telling him that if he wanted to die he would indeed finish that sentence, instead he said the much more tame, "He'll be healed without you asking, so shut up and watch."

The injury was fast closing, thanks to the emergency Kaido that Cain had performed on the Shinigami soon after the incident, the act replacing Ulquiorra's hostile reiatsu remnants with Cain's much more benign one. Grimmjow commented that Ulquiorra always punched a hole into prey that he had found interesting, after which he demanded that Orihime shut up and continue to heal Ichigo, as well as for Ichigo to shut up and get himself healed. He wanted nothing more than to hunt Ichigo himself, feeling snubbed at Ulquiorra's interference between their ongoing fight. It seemed to be his pride that made him want to kill Ichigo as proof not only to himself, but to Ulquiorra as well.

As if summoned by the very thought of him, Ulquiorra materialized in the opening, he was expressionless as always. Cazador, sensing the killing intent of Ulquiorra as soon as he entered the room leapt from where he had concealed himself in the room, his claws reaching for Ulquiorra's throat as he attempted to defend Cain from the threat. Without sparing him a second glance, Ulquiorra severed both of Cazador's arms with the same effort that one would put into waving off a fly, sending the Arrancar flying in the process. Cain snapped, he, like Ichigo, did not take kindly to people hurting those he had placed under his protection, no matter how long that they had known each other.

In the next millisecond he was right next to Ulquiorra, his gloved hand on Ulquiorra's face, throwing the espada into a temporary state of shock as he processed the information. "Orihime," his voice was full of barely contained rage, "As soon as you are done with Ichigo, heal that Arrancar as well," he motioned to the bleeding body of Cazador "He's my responsibility, I would rather he not die today," he turned back around facing Ulquiorra, "Leave Ulquiorra to me!" he flashed away, taking Ulquiorra with him as he dragged the Arrancar's face through the air, and threw it into the desert below, the impact of Ulquiorra into the sand causing a giant upheaval of sand into the air.

Cain landed gracefully as he arrived in the area that he had thrown Ulquiorra. The espada unharmed from the assault from Cain, and brushed himself off of the sand that had gotten on his uniform, strangely enough no sand had gotten in his hollow hole. A fascinating phenomenon that Cain would have loved to study if he wasn't about to fight the strongest espada that he had encountered so far, however the fact that he had done serious harm to one of Cain's companions meant that he was dead as far as Cain was concerned.

"Where were you hiding that power?" questioned the espada, "I couldn't even feel your movements when you grasped my face until you were already upon me." While Ulquiorra was talking, Cain was busy tearing off the sleeves of his outfit, the shoulders had already been blown out by his movements earlier.

"It is one of the reasons that I was trying so hard to conserve every ounce of reiryoku that I could on my way in to Las Noches, Ulquiorra," he discarded the ripped off sleeves and his reiatsu started to glow, becoming more and more luminescent as it grew, swirling around him as it began to spark and grow. "I learned this from the goddess of flash Yoruichi Shihoin herself, a combination of Kido and Hakuda, **Shunko"** the power exploded from behind his back, turning into blue flames that wrapped around his arms and shoulders, the tips of his tails also glowed with power. "Thanks to her help, and that of a certain bee, I was able to complete my own variation of **Shunko,** although I have zero practice with it in actual combat."

He blasted forwards, missing Ulquiorra and the flames in his fists turning the sand below them into glass, along with shattering the newly formed glass, sending shards everywhere. He took off after Ulquiorra, his **Kitsune Issen **keeping up with the Espada's shunpo. He punched at Ulquiorra, his blow connecting this time, the heat released burning the Espada's Hierro even as the concussive force was equaled by Ulquiorra's own punch. The two traded blows midair the force of the Espada's strikes matched by Cain's **Shunko** enhanced strikes, both of their arms blurring in and out of sight.

Both of them used their High speed movement techniques, each clash of the two titans creating a shockwave that caused craters in the sand below them, their combined reiatsu causing other combatants difficulty as they tried to breathe. Even Grimmjow, from as far away as he was, was shocked; he had gained a basic understanding of Cain's power when they fought in the world of the living, when the Hybrid had tossed him around like a punching bag. But to be able to fight with Ulquiorra on even terms without releasing even a shikai was impressive.

The two fighters parted for a brief moment, allowing Ulquiorra to draw his sword, Cain, in response doing the same thing, and they began again, allowing for them to test their mettle in sword skills. Again, both combatants closed with each other, their swords blurring in and out of vision, as well as clashing with great force, Ulquiorra was astounded at the ability of Cain to keep up with him, even in his unreleased state, their battle was the longest that Ulquiorra had fought with an opponent he had considered trash not very long ago. They closed again, Ulquiorra preparing his green cero on the tip of one of his fingers, and was surprised that Cain was mirroring his movement, in addition to his cero, although Cain's was a sky blue color. Both cero fired at the same time blowing both contestants back from where they had engaged.

Ulquiorra used the distance that he had gained from the explosive collision of the two cero, and began to go straight up towards the ceiling of Las Noches, Cain hot on his heels as they climbed higher and higher into the air. As they reached the ceiling, Ulquiorra blew a hole in it, the debris slowing down Cain for a brief second, allowing Ulquiorra to gain an advantage, flying through the hole and ascending further into the sky, landing on top of a circular tower like structure. He waited for Cain to catch up to him, the hybrid landing on the ground below the structure, none the worse for wear, much as Ulquiorra himself was mostly uninjured from the explosion. "I commend your abilities," began Ulquiorra, "there are only two things that are forbidden in Las Noches," he looked down at Cain, "The first is the cero reserved for espada; the Gran Rey Cero, the second being Espada Four and higher releasing their zanpakuto, for both are so powerful that they would destroy the dome above the fortress." Ulquiorra pointed his zanpakuto directly at Cain. "**Enclose ****Murciélago**" 

Black green energy exploded from Ulquiorra's frame, and green rain fell down from the black reiatsu. The reiatsu cleared revealing a changed Ulquiorra, his outfit had changed into a robe not unlike Cain's own, form fitting at the top and more robe like at the bottom, his mask fragment had grown as well, becoming a kind of helmet from which two horns protruded. Behind him, two bat like wings were folded up, the difference between his prerelease form and this one was gigantic, it was the first time that Cain had seen an Espada's sword release. Yet he felt no fear at the sight.

"**Bind the demons Onmyouji, Rise from the ashes Kikōō" **the two zanpakuto transformed at Cain's call, not only that but his glove began to cover not only his forearm ang hand, but had grown to cover Cain's entire arm.

"Don't drop your guard, don't lose focus, don't let down your swords, for the moment you do, you are DEAD." Spoke Ulquiorra as he flew down.

"Bring it on ULQUIORRA!"shouted Cain right back at the espada as he braced himself, his zanpakuto ready for anything as he tracked Ulquiorra, he had a feeling that their fight had only just begun.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: I would like to say thanks to everyone who is supporting this story by reading it. Thanks to all of you I was able to post twenty four chapters in twenty four days and complete the promise and challenge that I gave myself. So for that I sincerely thank each and every one of you. Unfortunately, school is starting and I will be unable to post as often as I like. Most likely only once a week at best. So, if you like this story please review it, I thank you all once again for being such a great audience. **

Ulquiorra flew down from the tower, his wings folded behind him making his dive towards Cain all the more swift; in his hand he held a bright green energy spear brimming with power as he brought it to bear against Cain, aiming right for his neck in an attempt to end the showdown in an instant. Cain responded in kind, bringing his released Zanpakuto up to clash against the might of the released fourth espada. The two weapons collided in an explosion that rocked the dome of Las Noches, Cain's flames vying for dominance with the Espada's energy spear.

The release of energy destroyed the tower that Ulquiorra had been standing on, the sword and spear both bringing forth intense destructive power as they both sought the blood of the enemy. The shockwave from the explosion blew Cain and Ulquiorra away from each other, allowing each to see the damage that had been done to the other. Blood dripped down onto the concrete dome of Las Noches, both Cain and Ulquiorra saw that their opponent had not gotten away unharmed.

Cain grasped his arm, falling to one knee and bringing up **Onmyouji **up to the deep gash in his shoulder in order to stop the bleeding. Across the rooftop he saw Ulquiorra in what seemed to be a much better state than himself, but when he looked closer he saw that the Arrancar had not escaped without injury. The previously pristine white of the Arrancar's right arm was now charred black, evidence that the flames of Kikōō were not just for a showy explosion, however the skin was slowly flaking off of the afflicted area, revealing a newer, pristine white limb as the layers slowly began to be replaced by the new skin created by the Espada's regenerative abilities. The robes of Ulquiorra's outfit however had retained their pristine white throughout the exchange.

"You weren't kidding Ulquiorra," Cain spoke, silence wasn't really his thing after all, "Your speed is incredible, and you have no lack of power to use with it. However," Cain stood up, revealing that he had managed to heal the gash on his arm, "it looks like this exchange ended just like our prerelease ones; in an almost perfect stalemate, unfortunately for you, I've got a bit of an ace in the hole."

Ulquiorra looked at Cain and was shocked, no one had ever been able to keep up with this form's movements, let alone been able to counter his first attack, when his difference of speed allowed him to completely overwhelm the opponent before they even had a chance to get used to it. The explosion from Cain's released zanpakuto had created an intense flame as soon as it had made contact with his own spear, enough that it had forcibly destabilized the spear's structure and forced an explosion. His burnt right arm was proof that it had not been a simple fluke or desperate struggle, but a calculated attempt to gauge his speed.

"How did you manage it?" Ulquiorra demanded an answer to his question, "My speed is nothing like before, you should not have been able to block me, let alone counter." His eyes widened as he noticed something faint glimmer in the dark moonlight. Thousands of very fine threads had been spread around Cain all tied to his main sword hand.

"So you've noticed?" Cain told the espada, "This is my only original technique and it has an almost unlimited variety of uses, from offense to defense to just allowing me to know the direction an insanely fast attack is coming from." He moved his hand and Ulquiorra felt something force his wings and arms to his sides, causing the Espada's eyes to widen.

"When did you!?" for once the espada showed actual surprise in his eyes, having not felt the presence of the wires binding him until Cain had activated his trap, the wires binding the espada were thick and sharp, he couldn't move without them cutting into his skin, even with his Hierro.

"I can freely control each individual wire, when you flew through my sensory field you were covered in them. I told you Ulquiorra, give me a month and I will be able to stand against you, and prove you wrong about me not being a threat." Cain created more wires continuing to further bind the espada, until the only thing visible was his head. He stuck out **Onmyouji** his tails pointed at Ulquiorra's bound form, "You will regret not killing me when you had the chance, Ulquiorra. **Limit of the thousands hands, respectful hands, unable to touch the darkness. Shooting hands unable to reflect the blue sky. The road that basks in light, the wind that ignited the embers, time that gathers when both are together, there is no need to be hesitant, obey my orders." **his tails began to glow with a bright white light, dazzling in its brilliance

** "**What are you doing!?" Ulquiorra began straining against the bonds that had been paced around him, ignoring the painful cutting of the wires, which began to snap and strain under the force that the fourth espada was capable of producing coming closer and closer to breaking free of the restraints that had been placed on him. An individual wire wouldn't have been able to hold the espada, but hundreds of thousands of thin wires had been woven into the cocoon that was currently binding him down.

Cain ignored the Espada's struggling and yelling, putting all of his concentration into the extremely powerful kido, even with the added handicap of both and **Onmyouji **and his tails as foci the kido was still extremely difficult to control, "**Light Bullets, eight bodies, nine items, book of heaven, diseased treasure, great wheel, grey fortress tower. Aim far away, scatter brightly and cleanly when fired. Hado #91 Senju Koten Taiho" **from Cain's tails a myriad of spears made of light sprung forth and surrounded Ulquiorra, crashing into the Espada and causing a massive explosion. However, Cain was skeptical; he never turned his back on an opponent until he had confirmed that they were dead himself. It was the only reason he was still alive. From the dust came a pitch black cero that connected with Cain.

Cain crossed his arms, and fired multiple Bala into the pitch black cero, to only a mixed effect. The explosion burnt his arms, even with the protection afforded to him by Kikōō and the Bala that he had fired into the cero he did not survive the blast unscathed. When it cleared he saw Ulquiorra, who himself had taken a huge hit from Cain's kido. Both of them had sustained injuries from that clash, Cain's arms were burnt and his tails weren't in any better shape as Cain had formed a ball with them around himself as he pumped al the reiryoku he could into them to try and mitigate the damage that they would take. Ulquiorra was in a similar condition, his wings suffering major damage, the skin had been completely burned away from the blast and had left Ulquiorra's robe in tatters.

Both of them were losing blood, and not just a small amount of it, rivulets of blood covered both of them, and although Ulquiorra's injuries were getting smaller and smaller by the second, Cain's were not. Fortunately however, he was bleeding at a much slower rate than Ulquiorra.

"**Cero Oscuras, **the cero used by all espada once they have released their zanpakuto. To think you would be able to survive an almost direct hit from it is remarkable. Tell me, why do you fight?" Ulquiorra was curious as to the reasoning behind Cain's desire to fight him, it didn't seem to be the same as Ichigo's, and despite the grin he saw on the hybrid's face he knew that it wasn't just because he enjoyed fighting. "You aren't here to save that woman, you aren't just angry because of that incomplete Arrancar. I don't understand you, you gained all this power and have understandable motive to fight me. So why?"

"You're right Ulquiorra; it wouldn't make any sense to you, who don't understand the concept of hope." Cain stood up from where he was, blood dropping down his body and his clothing in tatters.

"Hope?" Ulquiorra glared at Cain, he didn't understand what that word meant, he had heard it used sure, but it meant nothing to him.

"Yeah, that illogical feeling that no matter how fragile it gets, is almost impossible to destroy. The feeling that no matter how hard today is, that if you strive hard enough and bear it out, tomorrow will be better." Cain pointed his sword at Ulquiorra and flared the flames around the blade, "I fight to protect the hope of others, I fight, so that others will not have to, I fight, so that the better day will come, a bit cliché I know but it is for that reason that I know I cannot allow you to continue Ulquiorra."

"How foolish," Ulquiorra's eyes returned to their natural state, a neutral expression that didn't betray anything of his emotions. "You are ignorant of true despair," a green reiatsu, mixed with black, flared from Ulquiorra, "allow me to show you, **Resurrección**** Segunda ****Etapa****." **Ulquiorra transformed once more**, **his white coat was gone, revealing his slender torso, his arms and legs had become black with sharp talons as feet, and his hands had grown sharp claws, while he retained his black bat like wings, and had grown a whip like tail. The reiatsu that he released during the transformation was massive, and unlike any reiatsu he had sensed before, it was thick and heavy, with a presence that just screamed, give up.

He wasted no time in his attack, blasting from where he stood his speed was unreal, Cain couldn't see it, and his threads were next to useless because just as soon as he felt a change in them, Ulquiorra had his clawed hand on the side of his head. Unfortunately Cain had no time to appreciate the irony of the situation, as he was currently being manhandled by the emotionless espada. He could feel the oppressive killing intent of the espada, driven almost to emotion by Cain's statement. His only goal at the moment was to violently crush the hybrid beneath him and prove the futility of his struggle.

Cain couldn't deny the oppressive power of the espada, as he was being thrown around by the bat like Ulquiorra; he reactivated his Shunko trying to gain some much needed power to match the espada, his own wings burning strong as he flapped them, trying to bring the fight to the Espada. But Ulquiorra's second release was not to be trifled with, even with the power and speed that his Shunko, Awakening and both shikai had awarded him, he was still at the mercy of the sheer overwhelming might of Ulquiorra was far too much to match as Cain was, he was thrown around and through tower after tower as Ulquiorra tried to kill him.

It was around this time that he noticed that he was getting used to the movements of Ulquiorra, what was once invisible was now a blur that he could barely follow. Unfortunately however, he doubted that he had the strength left to fight Ulquiorra as he was now. He felt himself get flung into another solid surface, the top of one of the towers that Ulquiorra hadn't already leveled in his assault on him, and noticed that Ulquiorra was standing at the far end of the circle.

"Now do you see the futility of your actions?" Ulquiorra was walking slowly towards him, much to Cain's own advantage; it meant that he could speak for the first time since the espada had begun his assault.

Cain spat up blood, coughing as he managed to catch his breath, "Fuck that Ulquiorra," his own reiatsu building, the flames of his Kikōō returning to the blade as his awakening progressed even further along his body, "**Bankai!" **

Cain's reiatsu soared, blue flames erupting from his injuries, as if his blood had turned to flame, the shape of his sword transformed once more, turning into a Naginata, a spear-like weapon with a longer blade than the traditional spear. He spun it around, the weapon taking two hands to wield properly, blue sparks trailing behind the path of the blade, "**Enten no Ou! **I will prove you wrong about that Ulquiorra, behold, my personal **Bankai**, if I made any mistake, it was in believing that any shikai would be enough to take you down." the wings of flame that had been present in his shikai were gone, however, Cain moved far faster than he had previously.

He thrust his weapon at Ulquiorra, this time it was the Arrancar who could barely keep up with his movements, although dodging the blade edge, however, Cain was not done, he spun the Naginata around, the staff portion making contact with the released espada and burning through his side. "The basic ability of **Enten no Ou**" explained Cain to the wide eyed Arrancar, "Is to ignite and control the temperature and fire around the user and weapon, the extent of it is dependent of the user's reiryoku and passion," the flames around Cain grew and raised in temperature, "And by the same token, it protects the wielder from those very same flames."

From Ulquiorra's wound sprung a black flame, a fire so hot that it almost seemed cold to the espada, "And the first special ability of it, the black flames of Amaterasu. The talons of the mighty phoenix are not to be trifled with, even by the fourth highest ranked espada." Cain spun around piercing through Ulquiorra's hollow hole with the blade of the Naginata, "Goodbye, Ulquiorra Cifer." The espada exploded into black flames, erasing his existence and getting rid of the problem.

Cain's bankai faded away as he noticed he was above the same hole that Ulquiorra had blasted in the roof before they had fought, slowly losing consciousness his only thought was, Damn, this is going to hurt like hell when I land.


End file.
